Guns and Roses
by Tobina
Summary: Sequel to ‚Scars'. Shinichi just brought down the BO and already he has to deal with the next criminal syndicate. A gem that grants immortality? Shinichi and KID beg to differ, but because their opponents stop at nothing to get that gem, they team up to put an end to their dark deeds. Snipers, detectives and a thief – what can possibly go wrong? (Friendship-fic)
1. Debt

Hello my dears!

I'm back with another story and this time, we're going to wrap up the Pandora-Arc.

Some of you might recognize the prolog, which was originally an OS for 'Scratches' and now serves as the first chapter for my new story. I hope this time I don't have to torture you with long periods of hiatus, 'cause for this story I actually did the raw plotting 'til the end. I'll try to upload every second week (please pay attention to the word 'try'. I do have a real life and as much as I love to write, sometimes I have to focus on my husband/family/friends/work... you name it.)

This is a Shinichi and Kaito friendship story – no pairing! I love how they interact and yes, I do read and like KaiXShin, but this is a continuation of 'Scars' and I'll stick to the original couples, featured by the manga. So – no yaoi/slash/BoyxBoy/whatever here.

As I said: this is a sequel to 'Scars'. I would recommend you to read it first, 'cause there might pop up some references here and there, but you also should be fine if you don't.

So, have fun and remember: I always love to know what you are thinking about the story, so be so kind and drop a review now and then ^_~

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**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**Prolog  
Debt  
**ooOO-OOoo

_Beep_

The annoying sound filtered through Shinichi's befuddled senses.

_Beep Beep_

He didn't want to leave the cozy, peaceful darkness yet. Every time he'd done so in the last few days, he'd ended up in a new predicament and he'd really had his full.

_Beep Beeeeep Beep_

Unwilling to open his eyes, he frowned slightly. The rhythm was very unusual for a heart-rate-monitor. Why should he be hooked up to one anyway? As far as he remembered, he'd only been hit on the thigh and grazed on the hadn't he left the hospital yesterday? Huh.

_BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeeeeeeeeep_

_'__OK – That's it – what the hell-' _He opened his eyes, blinked a few times and yes - this was indeed his own room. His surprisingly dark room. Squinting at the clock on his nightstand, he cursed. 1:30 a.m. Another beep drew his attention to the source of noise next to his bed. A dark haired girl sat there cross-legged and pressed energetically on the display of her cellphone, glancing up at him expectantly.

"Morning sleepy-head," he was greeted by Ran's cheery voice. "Slept well? I hope I didn't wake you?" All of her expression said differently though. Her Cheshire-grin didn't go well with the concerned question. '_Come to think of it,'_ his still in a kind of slow sleepy-mode brain pointed out for him, _'This grin doesn't go well with Ran to begin with.' _He took a closer look at his childhood-friend-now-girlfriend, noticing a little white plushy on the phone strap. _'And this is certainly not her phone.' _What left him with the obvious answer to who was interrupting his well-deserved rest. His right eye twitched.

"Kid, what are you doing here?" he asked irritated. Seeing that the thief's grin evolved a very suspicious, mischievous edge, he scowled. "And you better don't mess with me or I will kick your sorry ass to kingdom come."

Kid actually pouted. "Aww, Tantei-kun – you're no fun." He sniggered as he heard his favorite detective grumble something incoherent that sounded like "Why does everyone tell me that lately?" while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Come to the point Kid. Look – I'm really, really grateful for your help with the BO, but it's in the middle of the night and I'm not in the mood for your pranks right now. I don't even want to know why you felt the urge to disguise as my girlfriend to show up here." Seriously – why did he have to put up with weirdos all the time? It was just exhausting. He breathed a quiet sigh. "I just want you to make short work of it, so that I can go back to sleep."

A puff of smoke and instead of Ran, Kid sat on the floor in his white trademark regalia, eying him innocently. Well, as innocently as possible for an internationally wanted thief. "You owe me one."

"Huh?" Shinichi looked at him baffled. "Come again?"

Kid casually leaned back, smiling. "You've heard me detective. You owe me one."

"Okay… uhm. Mind to specify what exactly I owe to you? Like rescuing you out of a burning building, bringing down a shadowy syndicate, letting you off the hook on your next heist…?"

The thief laughed. "As if I needed to call in a favor from you to pull off a perfect heist. Though I might come back to you about that syndicate thing, but no." In a smooth movement he was on his feet and hovered over Shinichi, leaning in closely. "That's not what I meant," he whispered.

Shinichi's face heated up at the invasion of his personal space and the thief's low voice. Holy crap – what was going on in this lunatic's twisted brain? He scooted back spluttering, until he bumped against his headboard. Kid followed him suit, entrapping him with his arms braced left and right to Shinichi's head. "You know Tantei-kun – Mouri-chan has good taste. You really _are_ handsome. Those bandages give you just the right touch of bad-boy."

_'__What?'_ Shinichi's thoughts came to a stuttering halt. He tried to untwist his uncooperative tongue. "Uh… Kid… that…" He swallowed. "I feel flattered and all, but… I just don't… swing… that way."

The man in white just looked at him in silence, his eyes and most of his face obscured by his glinting monocle and the brim of his hat. Had he offended the thief?

Shinichi began to phrase an apology, but cut himself off as he saw the familiar grin Kid was famous for, breaking through the poker face. "You – you've set me up! You sorry excuse for a…" he yelled disbelievingly, shoving the now outright laughing Kid off of the bed.

"Your face was priceless Tantei-kun," Kid hiccupped chuckling. "I just couldn't let this opportunity slip."

Shinichi suppressed a frustrated grunt. _'It's Kid, remember? Breathe, calm down and make sure to ask Agasa for new power-kick-boots and a soccer-belt for the next heist.' _His satisfied smile set Kid on the edge. "Wh- What are you thinking 'bout, Tantei-kun?"

"Never mind - doesn't matter." _'Sweet, sweet revenge Kid.' _"So, spit it out. What do you want with me?"

Kid hadn't earned his reputation for nothing. Effortlessly he slipped back into his role of the mockery, enigmatic thief. "Very well Tantei-kun. Back to business. It's very simple. Remember how you escaped from the rooftop?"

A shudder from Shinichi answered his question.

"And do you also remember how you landed – no sorry, _smashed_ my precious glider in the park?"

Shinichi cringed. Not a chance that he could forget about that - ever. "So basically you want a new glider? That's all?"

"Such things don't grow on trees, you know? My glider is mostly custom-made, so don't bother buying me a new one, but some financial support would be much appreciated."

Well, that was something Shinichi could arrange quite easily. He shrugged. "Ok, no problem. You're right, I owe you that much. I assume you don't take credit cards?"

Kid grinned at him. "Don't worry, I'll send you a note with instructions."

Lifting one eyebrow, Shinichi scowled at the thief. "Instructions my ass. Who do you take me for? This will just end up in some of your insane games if I give you any time to prepare. Just give me the information now and then get out of my bedroom."

"Mahh… always so distrustful Tantei-kun," Kid sighed as he got up from the floor and brushed some non-existent dust from his sleeve. "But really, you should know by now-" He pulled something small out of one of the countless hidden pockets of his suit. "-that I am _always_ prepared."

The pink smoke filled Shinichi's lungs before he could even think about holding his breath. _'Well,' _were his last thoughts before he drifted into dreams, _'at least I will get to sleep again now. Damned thief.'_

Kid looked down at the peacefully slumbering detective and placed his note neatly on the nightstand, so it would be there to greet Shinichi first thing in the morning. He walked over to the window and paused for a moment, a pleased smile gracing his lips. "You're right Tantei-kun. I don't take cards – I deliver them."

ooOO-OOoo

Dear detective,  
_five_ rounds of the ball that means life.  
_four _matching stars  
_three_ beats after the beginning  
_two_ fingers pointing into the sky  
_one_ to deliver the debt

(grinning Kid-doodle)

ooOO-OOoo

"KID!"

The shout resounded through the whole house. Two people sat at the breakfast table, completely unfazed. The woman sipped her tea while the man turned a page in his newspaper.

"I think he found the note," Yukiko said with a small smile. She had seen it while she'd tried to wake her son for breakfast, but he had slept like a log, so she'd let him be.

"Obviously," her husband answered.

Yukiko grinned mischievously. "When do you think the thought will hit him that Kid's heist collides with Ran-chan's birthday?"

Yusaku folded the newspaper and counted down while he glanced in the direction of Shinichi's room. "Three, two, one…"

"AAarrrghhh!"

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**A/N: T**his was short and nothing really new, so straight off to the first chapter.


	2. Heist

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**Chapter one  
Heist  
**ooOO-OOoo

Shinichi checked his watch for the fifth time in as many minutes. The clock-hands crawled agonizingly slowly towards the time Kid had announced for his arrival. A sigh escaped him. He just hoped he could get this over and done with quickly and return to Ran's party. To say she hadn't been amused when he'd told her he would have to leave before 12 o'clock was, well – understated. '_Five rounds of the ball that means life.' _That had meant five days after the note had been delivered. And it just _had_ to be the night of Ran's birthday.

After all that had happened during the last few weeks, she deserved a wonderful birthday party and she'd decided to invite all of her friends to celebrate into the small hours. And yet here he was – waiting for Kaitou Kid instead of seeing his girlfriend's smile while she was blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. Just great - he was such a shitty boyfriend.

His mood sunk even further when he caught the glowering gaze from Nakamori-keibu. The inspector had allowed his presence at the heist-site with clenched teeth and just because Shinichi had been able to present him the personal 'invitation' he'd gotten from the thief. Talking about territorial behavior.

His eyes scanned over the other officers, who were scattered all over the hotel's in-house art gallery. The 'Elite Hotel' consisted of two big main towers and was known for its exclusive exhibitions. _'Two fingers pointing into the sky._' This month they were showing a collection of four star-cut jewels, each with an engraved pictogram for water, fire, air and earth. They symbolized, of course, the four elements and the jewels were chosen to match their element. Topaz for water, ruby for fire, diamond for air and emerald for earth. Because their creator had been a huge fan of astrology, they also stood for the four classifications for the astrological signs – hence the name 'Zodiacal Quartet'. _'Four matching stars.'_

Chanting from the outside drew his attention to the large glass doors of the balcony. He walked over to see the enormous crowd which had gathered in front of the hotel. His tongue clicked in annoyance as with every second step a soft thud reached his ears. He gripped the handle of the cane a bit tighter. It was, aside from a band-aid on his head, the last reminder of his clash with the Black Organization and in a few days he wouldn't need it anymore.

Shinichi felt a bit at a disadvantage, knowing that Kid would for sure go all out tonight, while he was handicapped with his injured right leg. His left one would have to suffice. He'd received his new power-kick-boots and the soccer-belt from the professor yesterday. It hadn't been really surprising that Agasa had made them for him already a while ago, guessing that Shinichi might like to have some of his gadgets in adult-size. He was still working on an upgrade for the tranquilizer-watch and they had yet to come up with a replacement for the glasses. After all he couldn't wear them as Shinichi anymore.

Another glance to his watch. Midnight. '_Three beats after the beginning. Three, two, one…'_

"Ladiiies aaand gentlemen," Kid's voice boomed over the courtyard outside. Spotlights flickered on and searched for the thief in white. Thick smoke billowed over the balcony and a glitter-bomb went off, covering the cheering people in a layer of sparkling silver.

Shinichi jumped when Kid appeared out of the white fog, directly on the other side of the door he was standing in front of. His face-splitting madman grin firmly in place, the thief opened the locked door as if it had been open from the start. Shinichi, who'd lost his already precarious balance in the process, felt a steadying hand gripping his arm and an amused voice whispering in his ear. "Now now Tantei-kun, I just arrived and you're already all weak-kneed?"

Embarrassed and upset, Shinichi lunged forward to tackle the thief, but Kid had vanished instantly. As soon as Shinichi had straightened himself, his head cleared. "Stupid thief," he muttered. It wasn't like him to try such a headless attack. Kid just had caught him off-guard. He won't let that happen again. The dog-pile method was more suited for the Kid task force, whose leader didn't seem to have learned a thing, even after so many heists. And sure enough, across the room he saw a heap of officers, struggling on the floor.

Knowing that Kid must have escaped them effortlessly, his eyes searched the room. The showcase seemed untouched, the four jewels still on their cushioned display.

One problem with the task force's favored attack was that Kid liked to use the commotion to disguise as an officer. He'd done so countless times already and still Nakamori hadn't found a dependable way to prevent it. So chances were high that they counted an additional squad member right now, but because Nakamori always went by the rule 'the more the better', it was impossible to say for sure.

Well, he wasn't here to prevent the theft in the first place, though he definitely would step in if the opportunity presented itself. His task was to pass on the money. 54.321 yen, just like the italic words written on the heist note had said. 'O_ne to deliver the debt.'_

His parents, especially his mother who was a Kid fan, had been more than willing to meet the costs for the destroyed glider. It wasn't asked much for the life of their son and they really could afford it.

"Keibu, Kid got away!" came the shout out of the officer-heap and provoked a flood of heavy swearing from Nakamori. "Find him!" he yelled. "He must be still in this room! Protect the jewels!"

Oh well, it was very predictable what would happen next, so Shinichi decided to go on ahead and made his way to where he was sure Kid was going to make his exit from. Remembering their previous meetings, he opened the door that led to the roof. He couldn't understand for the life of him why Nakamori never secured the roofs properly.

Shinichi leaned against the brick-wall next to the door and waited with his hands shoved in the pockets of his crème-white jeans. A soft breeze carried up the nightly noises from the city and tucked at the collar of his black polo-shirt. His gaze swept over the neighboring skyscrapers, where bright-colored neon-signs declared the names of hotels, companies and a bank. Most of the facades were dark, but on some buildings bright light shone out of several windows to form patterns or logos.

"A lovely night, isn't it Tantei-kun?"

Shinichi just turned his head to the speaker, who, like him, leaned against the wall. Kid's arms were crossed behind his head as he looked up at the starry night sky, seemingly totally unconcerned by the presence of the detective next to him.

"Already done with playing?"

The thief let out a frustrated puff. "It was just the usual. Nakamori and his men are hardly a challenge anymore, though I had fun stripping the Keibu to his boxers and locking him out on the balcony," he grinned. "It would have been more interesting if you could have participated, but well, it can't be helped," Kid said with a glance to the cane in Shinichi's hand. "But next time I'm expecting some real effort from your side, Tantei-kun."

"What next time?" Shinichi snorted. "I'm certainly not going to chase you around like Nakamori-keibu or Hakuba-san."

"Whaaat? Why not?" Kid whined, turning to face Shinichi, who just gave him a sidelong glance. "We had so much fun when you've been pint-sized. I've been looking forward to test out your abilities now that you're taller than your average fireplug."

"Insulting me is not going to help, you know?" Shinichi grumbled halfheartedly. He had to admit that Kid was right. It had been fun to solve his little riddles and it had loosened him up to put his mind on something else than the BO - but that was then and now was now.

"Simply put – I just don't have the time," he sighed. "I have literally close to no free time, since I have to play catch up with all the schoolwork I've missed. What little is left, I try to spend with Ran and when I get the chance to actually work on a case, I have to say that I'd choose a homicide over a theft. Especially if the thief in question tends to return the stolen jewels anyway."

Kid hummed in understanding. He could sympathize with that, seeing how he had to juggle with his schoolwork and his night-job, which took quite some time regarding the preparations before the actual heist. Good that he was used to it by now and could go through several nights in a row with little sleep without letting it show in school. Hakuba was close enough to his secret as it was. He couldn't afford dropping hints left and right by sleeping during class every time a heist was coming up.

But Shinichi didn't know that and he felt a tiny prick of disappointment that the detective rather spent his time with dead people than with him. Well, he couldn't argue over that priority, now could he? Catching murderers _was _more important after all.

"Okay, I'll let this slide for now, but I'll certainly get back to you," he promised the eye-rolling teen at his side.

"Do whatever floats your boat Kid," Shinichi replied absentminded. He was already calculating how long it would take him to return to Ran if he would go right now. Big mistake.

"You're sure?" Kid's husky voice breathed against his temple.

"Gaahh!" Shinichi screamed and jumped away from the chuckling thief. "Stop that, now will you?" He rubbed his hand over his temple. "Keep that shit up and I will help a certain self-proclaimed number-one fan of yours to get her hands on you."

The face of a squealing short-haired blonde popped up in Kid's mind and shut him up effectively. He lifted his hands in defense. "Alright, alright. Understood – no more feeling up Tantei-kun."

"Glad we have an agreement here. Now," Shinichi pulled an envelope out of his pocket and held it out to Kid. "Before the task force makes it out of whatever you've trapped them in, it's time to make an exchange. Your money for the Zodiacal Quartet."

"An envelope? Seriously, Tantei-kun?"

"What did you expect? A shiny metal-case full of bank notes?" Shinichi asked with an amused half-smile.

Kid mumbled something like, "Could've come up with something less lame," what Shinichi decided to ignore.

"Okay – got it. Just give me a second." Kid strode to the middle of the roof and held the jewels one after one up to the full moon. Shinichi watched him curiously. "What exactly are you hoping to see? You're doing this every time, don't you?"

Kid squinted against the moonlight to check the third jewel. "I do, but I can't tell you." He turned to Shinichi and winked. "It's a secret."

Shinichi crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah – whatever. Hurry up then, I have to be somewhere else right now." He really hoped the present he'd chosen for Ran would sooth her enough that he would live through the night. He'd picked a necklace he had seen her ogle at every time they'd passed the store, when he'd still been Conan.

"Okay, okay – no need to be so pushy. I'm almost done. Just this last one." Kid took the remaining jewel, the one for water, and held it up. It glistened as he turned it a bit and the picture of Kid, swathed in his billowing cape, staying bathed in pale moonlight with the jewel in his raised hand, was more than memorable.

A silenced shot shattered the moment of awe. With a pained outcry, Kid dropped the jewel and clutched his hand. Blood stained the pristine white of his glove. Shinichi was dumbstruck for a second, before he realized what was happening. The cane cluttered to the ground as he compelled his body into action and spurted forward, ignoring his protesting leg. His eyes skipped frantically from the windows to the roofs of the opposite buildings. _'There!' _The glinting of a rifle-scope revealed the sniper's position. Quickly he pressed the button on his belt and a soccer ball inflated. With his right foot he activated the power-kick-boots and aimed. Just before the next shot went off, the ball crashed into the wall next to the shooter, who got distracted enough to miss his target.

Shinichi cursed under his breath. With his stronger right foot he would have knocked him out cold for sure. "Kid!" he shouted to spur the thief on, what wasn't necessary, because Kid already ran over to him. Grabbing Shinichi's arm and spinning him around, he dragged the teen towards the door and slammed it shut behind them.

Panting they stood in the dimly lit staircase. Shinichi was the first to catch his breath. "Wha – What the _hell_ was that?"

Kid's expression was grave, his jaw set. He didn't look as ruffled about the incident as Shinichi had expected him to be. _'Wait – does that mean-'_ His eyes widened. "This hasn't been the first time, right?" The thief remained silent and Shinichi lost his already thin-running temper. "Dammit Kid! Who is trying to kill you?"

Kid tilted his head down, hiding his eyes in the shadows his top hat casted over his face. His tone was unusually earnest and grim. "It doesn't concern you, Kudo."

Taken aback, Shinichi stared at him for a moment. Kid _never_ used his last name. Oddly enough, this detail brought the message across much more clearly than anything else could have. _Stay out of this._

Shinichi's thoughts raced. The thief certainly had offended many people and most of them were rich and mighty, but to go so far as to put a hit on him?

A scrap of their last conversation flickered through his mind. '_Though I might come back to you about that syndicate thing.' _His heart missed a beat. Could it- could it be? _'No! Nonono! We've caught them. It is over, right?' _He clenched his hands as they began to shake.

"Calm down – it's not _them_. Unfortunately," Kid's bitter voice pulled him back to presence and Shinichi looked at him sharply. "Unfortunately they are no faction of the Black Organization you've brought down recently, or they wouldn't still be out there. I've really hoped otherwise, but there was nothing about them in the reports the police received from that blond agent."

Shinichi inhaled audibly and Kid gave a short snort. "You really thought I wouldn't look into the results after all the effort I've put into this? Come on – you ought to know me better." The thief had regained his composure and pushed himself from the banister he'd leaned against. "Well – I'll call it a day. You're ok on your own?"

The detective just gaped. Did Kid really expect him to drop the topic just like that? Could the thief be so dense? He had seen what had happened to those who tried to manage everything on their own. He had seen what had happened to _him_.

Shinichi's anger rose. They'd just gotten rid of this damn organization and now another one tried to raise its ugly head? If this syndicate was anything like the BO, Kid would be dead in no time. He wouldn't let this happen - he couldn't.

Shinichi was tense to such an extent that now his whole body was trembling. "If I'm ok?" His words were a mere hiss. "If _I am_ ok?" Now he shouted. "Cut the crap Kid! _You _are the one with a bloody hand who just got away from being shot! Bury your fucking pride and let me help you!"

Kid looked up. Had the detective just sworn? Tantei-kun never swore. At least not like this. He could be arrogant, a know-it-all, sarcastic, he teased, but he didn't swear.

Huh - interesting.

"Okay."

"You can't- wait, what?" Shinichi stumbled over his own words.

"I said 'Okay'," Kid repeated calmly. "I will tell you what you want to know. If I don't, I'd put you at risk dying from your exploding blood-pressure." His lips curved into a slight grin. "Can't have that, now can we?"

_'He is nuts,' _Shinichi thought lost for words. _'He is totally nuts. But at least he's getting back to his mocking personality.' _He took a deep breath._ 'I can work with that.'_

The sound of running feet echoed through the staircase. The task force was finally showing up.

"Am afraid that's my cue," Kid said and opened the door to the roof again.

"Are you stupid? What if the sniper is still out there?" With the nearing officers Shinichi didn't dare to yell at Kid, but he made his point quite clear.

"No worries, Tantei-kun." Kid tapped against a bud in his ear. "My backup gave the all clear. Just so you know - I'm not backing out. I'm counting on you. Ya." And with a short wave he was out on the roof and activated his obviously new hang-glider.

Shinichi stood in the doorframe and watched the thief maneuvering through the city. After a moment, he picked up his cane and turned to meet up with Nakamori as something on the door-handle caught his attention. Blood.

He sighed. "At least let your 'backup' have a look at your hand, idiot," he muttered.

Working with the thief would be – different, so to say. Shinichi shoved his hands in his pockets again and felt the smooth surfaces of four jewels. Kid must have slipped them in there. He searched his jacket for the envelope just to find it gone.

_'What did I get myself into this time?'_

* * *

**A/N: **And here the story really begins. Seems like Kid just changed his status from 'thief who returns the stolen jewels anyway.' to 'Possible homicide victim.'


	3. Kuroba

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**Chapter two**  
**Kuroba  
**ooOO-OOoo

"Coming~," Yukiko sang as she skipped to the front door. The bell had dragged her from a cup of green tea in the library, but she didn't mind. As soon as her husband got hit by an idea and went into writer-mode, it was like talking all to herself. Sometimes she welcomed these phases, because she could do whatever popped up in her mind (not that she would hold back in other times) but she got bored rather quickly. After pestering her son about the heist and Ran's party, calling some friends and redecorating the living room, she was left with nothing else to do. An unexpected guest could be just the right distraction for her.

She opened one of the huge double-doors to greet the visitor with a beaming smile - and paused. It took her whole ten seconds to realize that her mouth hung open and that she was impolitely gaping at the young man who waited patiently in front of her.

"Uh oh, sorry," she laughed a bit embarrassed. "It's just – you look like… well, never mind. How can I help you?"

The boy smiled winningly. "Don't worry, no harm done. Kuroba Kaito is the name." He snapped his fingers and produced a red rose, which he offered Yukiko with an elegant bow. "I would like to see Kudo-kun if possible."

Yukiko took the rose with a blush. "Oh, you're one of Shinichi's friends. Come in, come in." She waved him into the entry hall. "He is upstairs in his room. Such a fine weather outside and that lazy bum is reading all day. He really should-"

"Oi, I've heard that," came a shout from the stairs. With a scowl on his face and after some fiddling with his cane, Shinichi stood next to his mother. "I'm trying to learn up there, you know? And thanks to you I've already lost two whole hours today. Don't you want me to-"

"Ano, Shin-chan," Yukiko interrupted his ranting. "Maybe you would like to say hello to your friend?"

Shinichi blinked. _'Oh right, I've heard the bell and thought it might be Ran.' _He turned his attention to the boy behind his mother. "Err…" He had no idea who was standing there, what was a dead giveaway to who it was; if that made any sense. _'Okay – this is rather unexpected.'_ "Hi, uh..."

The boy smiled widely at him, with just the tiniest hint of his usual grin. "Kudo-kun, hi. I'm here 'cause you've promised to help me with my studies." He linked his arm with Shinichi's and led him back to the stairs, a small frown on his face. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about your pal Kuroba Kaito. I told you, I'm counting on you."

"Yeah – right, sure." Shinichi slowly recovered from his surprise. "We'll be upstairs then, Kaa-san."

"Would you like some tea?" Yukiko asked after them a bit puzzled. Her son was acting weird. And she was pretty sure that she had seen this boy before, aside from him being a nearly mirror image of Shinichi.

"No no – we're fine, thanks."

_'__You're really pretty Obaa-san.' _In Yukiko's mind's eye, a small boy held out a red rose to her. _'Kuroba Kaito – could he be…'_ Her hand slowly covered her mouth.

ooOO-OOoo

Closing the door behind him, Shinichi looked at his guest, who glanced around his room at the moment. A teenager about his own age, who bore a significant resemblance to himself, casually dressed in blue jeans and a light blue t-shirt with a white print on the front.

Kuroba Kaito.

The name 'Kuroba' stroke a chord, but he couldn't place it right now. It wasn't important either, because the name could be fake; as well as the face and the voice for that matter. He wouldn't put it past the thief to have several identities in petto, though he was pretty sure that Kid actually was in his teens. But did he have to look like he could pass for his twin? Well, a twin with a serious case of bed-head that was. Maybe he should be thankful that the thief hadn't chosen to show up as a girl, what seemed to be a preferred disguise of him. His mother would have had a field day – and would've called Ran. Urrg.

Shinichi walked over to his bed and shoved some books aside to sit down, gesturing- well, he could go with the name for now, right? Gesturing at Kuroba to have a seat on his swivel-chair. It felt a bit awkward to meet outside of a heist and he wasn't sure how to start this. His gaze fell on the thief's left hand. "How's your injury?"

Kuroba absently stroke over the bandages while his eyes roamed over Shinichi's bookshelf. "Just a graze. In a few days it'll be as good as new."

Shinichi nodded. That was good. A thief who couldn't use both hands was a captured thief. Wait – why did he think that was good again? He rubbed the nape of his neck. "Well, as I'm sure you've heard, the hotel manager was glad to get his jewels back."

"Oh, yeah – I've read the newspaper this morning. Nice shot of Nakamori-keibu on the balcony," Kuroba chuckled.

Nakamori had been pissed, to say the least. Shinichi had told him that Kid got away after a short struggling. He felt a bit guilty, because he'd wiped away Kid's blood from the door-handle, but how should he have explained it? Furthermore, they would've had the thief's DNA and that really wouldn't help to keep him alive. As long as he didn't know who was after Kid, he wasn't willing to take any risks. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had infiltrated the police. And what better way to keep an eye on the thief than to join the task force, or even fill a higher position in division two? So he'd destroyed evidence – great. He groaned inwardly. It would be best to make this cooperation as short as possible or _he_ would end up in jail instead of the thief. "Okay Kid, fire away. Who is after you and why?"

"Kuroba."

"What?" Shinichi asked confused.

"My name," the thief clarified. "It's Kuroba Kaito. I would prefer you'd call me that. I'm not exactly on the job right now and I presume that your house is save enough to speak openly."

"Ok, yes – no problem. Go ahead then, Kuroba."

"Thanks. Well, it started with the Kid who appeared nineteen years ago. Originally he'd been a stage magician and he happened to cross paths with a syndicate which searched for a certain jewel. Now, here is where the story becomes a bit – magical? Unbelievable? Mystical?" Kuroba shrugged. "Call it whatever you want. I don't believe it either, but this jewel is said to have the power to grant eternal life and youth."

Shinichi almost choked. Eternal life and youth? This was exactly what Kaneshiro had been after. "You're sure they have nothing to do with the BO?"

"Pretty sure, yes. I think they have been subdued by the them, 'cause as soon as the organization had vanished, they became a lot more aggressive."

That was highly probable. With an organization as mighty as the BO, all the smaller gangsters and wannabe-godfathers had to keep a low profile or associate with the big brother. Figures that they would go on the rampage now. Shinichi didn't delude himself. Just because the BO was gone, didn't mean that there weren't any criminals left. The Tokyoter underground was about to reorganize itself. He grimaced as he saw a lot of work coming up.

"Usually they appeared just every now and then, but now Snake pops up at every single heist. Quite a pain," Kuroba said and scrunched up his nose.

"Snake?"

The thief waved dismissively. "They are using animals as code-names and Snake is the one who seems to be assigned to kill Kid, though I don't think it was him the other night. His trademark move is a shot to the heart. Because of that I had to add a bulletproof vest to my uniform. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to find one that doesn't look bulky under my suit?" At a loss what to say, Shinichi just slowly shook his head no and Kid shrugged. "Anyway, I'm just glad that he aims for the heart and not the head or I would have been dead at our first encounter." He grinned and made a peace sign. "Lucky."

The thief surely knew how to keep up a carefree facade, even while saying something like that. Shinichi sighed disbelievingly and decided to change the topic. "So, a stone that grants immortality – fine, why not. And then?"

Kuroba pulled up his legs and now sat cross-legged on the chair. It didn't look really comfortable to Shinichi, but the thief seemed to feel quite at home. "This jewel, named Pandora, is a double-jewel. I'll spare you the complete legend, but held against a full moon, the inner jewel is supposed to glow deep red. Since no one knows any more details, it could be any given jewel in any collection all over the world. And that's what made 1412 an international thief," Kuroba said, spreading his arms out to the sides. "He wanted to find Pandora before the syndicate and that," he faltered just the slightest, but Shinichi caught it nonetheless. "got him killed in the end."

If Shinichi remembered correctly, 1412 had performed heists in France and Germany, as well as in America. His father had put tabs on him back then and had been a consultant for Interpol a few times. The nickname 'Kid' had been his doing, because he'd misinterpreted the scrawly writing of some officer. Kid and he had had a similar competitive relationship as he himself and Kuroba had nowadays.

That the 'new' Kid's heists were focused on Japan made sense if one assumed that the original Kid had been an adult, while the current one was a minor, who couldn't travel as freely.

Anyway - Kuroba's behavior when he'd spoken about the first Kid's death prompted that he'd had an emotional bond with him. Gone was the devil-may-care attitude and the boy before him was suddenly just that – a boy. A boy who'd suffered a great loss.

"There is more, isn't it?" Shinichi prodded carefully and in a gentle voice. He didn't want to push, but he had to know as much as possible if he wanted to be any help at all. "You knew him."

Kuroba's eyes darkened. Lost in memories he bowed his head. "I did. Actually I knew him very well." He looked up again with a mournful yet determined expression and Shinichi sensed the answer he was about to get. "He was- I'm his son."

ooOO-OOoo

Hours of talking later, Shinichi had gotten a pretty good overview of how Kuroba had found out about his father being Kid and his past adventures. Some of them sounded quite unbelievable, but he had little room to talk, having been shrunk back into a grade-schooler.

He'd always surmised that there was more to Kid than met the eye and in some way he could understand where the thief was coming from, though he still didn't believe that searching for vengeance was the right way to make peace with his father's death. Especially not if he had to break the law repeatedly. At least Kid returned all the jewels, so the only thing one really could hold against him was breaking and entering and some collateral damage (and many officers' lost dignity). If you wanted to see it from the bright side, Kid's existence maintained the jobs of a whole task force and Shinichi was sure their families were grateful to know that the utmost danger to encounter on a heist was to be humiliated by the thief.

Well, that was what they'd thought until now. Apparently Kid had had to deal with these attempted assaults since the very beginning. That no one had noticed anything so far spoke volumes about Kid's precautions and his eagerness to keep everyone who attended his heists save. _'No one gets hurt on a heist.' _

The question was how to catch those responsible for the first Kid's death and preferably bringing down the whole syndicate.

Frustrated, Shinichi dragged a hand over his face. It never could be easy, could it? "So I take it your assistant already helped your father back then?"

Kuroba nodded. "He also is a private acquaintance of my family, though I'd like to keep quiet about his name for now."

"Fair enough. Now, what do you expect me to do? I'm sure you're aware of the fact that I'm obviously not more suited to go up against them singlehandedly than you are. And if I have learned anything during this whole Conan-fiasco, it would be that it never pays out to take everything on yourself anyway." He leaned forward; arms propped up on his knees, chin resting on his hands. "You actually want to use my connection to the police? You do realize such cooperation won't come without some accommodations, right?"

Poker face was something Kid excelled in, Shinichi had to give him that. If the thought of giving up on his career as phantom thief burdened Kid in any way, he didn't let it show. If anything, Shinichi thought that he might have seen a fleeting shimmer of relieve in Kuroba's eyes.

"As much as I love to entertain my fans and my loyal task force, I never intended to go on as Kid forever. I do have a private life and I just took on my father's legacy to bring these criminals to justice." Kuroba's voice was sober and calm. "If that means I have to hazard the consequences, I will approve." The thief's gaze intensified as he looked at Shinichi. "All I ask for is the safety of my friends and family."

That was a wish Shinichi could comprehend quite easily. The same desire had led him to most of the decisions he'd made as Conan, but for Kid to so easily accept what would most likely end in his arrest… _'He really has to be in a pinch.' _He examined the boy in front of him more closely, noting how his skin seemed to be just a shade paler than could be called healthy and how the area under his eyes was slightly darkened. _'Or maybe he is just tired of being chased. I can sympathize with that.' _Again Shinichi wondered if he was looking at the thief's real face, because why should he have bothered to add such details to a mask? Then again, exactly this train of thought could be the reason why. "Good. Then I'll talk to Nakamori-keibu tomorrow. The sooner we get this started, the higher the chances we can get them unprepared. If they become aware of you working with the police, it will just complicate the situation."

Kuroba inclined his head. "Right, so I will take my leave for now." He stood up and Shinichi mirrored his movement. The thief caught a card out of thin air and handed it to the detective. "Please contact me after the meeting. It's the number of a not registered cell phone. I think I don't have to tell you to call from a secured line?" he asked teasingly. Shinichi huffed but took the card. He was strangely relieved to see that the mischievous spark in the other boy's eyes was back. It had been kind of disturbing to interact with an earnest Kid.

On their way back to the front door they crossed the living-room, where Shinichi's mother was snuggled up on the big comfortable couch, while his father stood at the window. _'They were waiting for us,' _Shinichi realized. At the boy's entrance, Yukiko jumped up. "Kaito-kun! It's so wonderful to see you again," she cheered, startling him with a quick embrace. He looked at her questioningly. "Thanks- but I believe it have been just a few hours since we met?" And why did she use his given name? Not that he himself was much into all this formal stuff, but usually the rest of the world seemed to care. A soft chuckle directed his attention to Kudo Yusaku. "Please don't mind her Kuroba-kun. She just was really attached to your father and gets excited fairly quickly."

Now both of the boys were wide-eyed. They had known his father? For Shinichi it was the answer to his question if Kuroba was who he pretended to be, but it also meant that his father had known the first Kid. Was he aware of that? While his thoughts ran back to a certain treasure hunt, Kuroba had gone very still.

He blinked a few times. "You- you knew my dad?" Swallowing suddenly seemed to be a difficult task as a lump formed in his throat.

Yukiko smiled at him warmly. Taking his hand, she led the befuddled teen to the couch and gently pushed him down in the cushions. Tucking a stray strand of her honey-brown hair behind her ear, she sat down as well. "You have been very young back then, so it's just natural that you don't remember. He was my tutor in the art of disguising. It was a great help for me, seeing that I've been at the very beginning of my career and lacked experience so far." Her eyes misted slightly with memories. "Kuroba Toichi – he was an amazing man. Always patient with his students and so very talented." Her gaze met Kaito's and she smiled again. "And you wouldn't believe how proud he'd been of you."

Kaito had to remind himself to breathe. He rarely met people who had been acquainted with his father. Most of them just knew the showman, the magician, but few had seen the more private Toichi. It also was a bit strange to learn that he had some ties to the detective that went back that far. As if their fates somehow had been linked from the very beginning.

Yukiko chuckled as she eyed the wonder the boy's face expressed. "I couldn't believe my eyes when you stood in front of me earlier and pulled off the exactly same trick you did at our first meeting. Oh, and your mother-"

"Yukiko, I think you're overwhelming the poor boy with your little outburst," Yusaku's calm voice interrupted her. She gave him a pouting look, but he kept his eyes trained on Kaito, examining him. He was lean, but his movements told about well-trained muscles and excellent body control, his eyes were bright and observant. It _was_ possible…

Yusaku had kept track of Kid's heists over the last two years. Part out of mere amusement, but more importantly out of suspiciousness. He hadn't known Toichi as good as his wife had, but he'd had his fair share of encounters with the man at his magic shows, though he was sure that they had met more often on a completely different kind of stage. He'd never gotten the last proof that Toichi had been Kid, but his gut feeling told him that he'd been right. The heists had stopped after Toichi's dramatic death and who would be better suited to pick up his cape than his son? Though that left him with the same question as back then. _'Why?'_ He didn't believe that Toichi could have wanted for his son to carry on as his successor, so the boy must have decided on his own. But why did he wait so long? He had been really young, so it might have taken some time to grow into the role. Or maybe he simply hadn't known before.

He had many questions for the youngster, but decided they could wait for now. Watching how Yukiko saw Kaito off after she'd gotten him to promise that he would visit again soon, he just hoped that his son knew what he was doing. Shinichi had had more than enough near-death experiences and was still on his way to recuperate. Seeing him walking up the stairs a bit awkwardly with the cane was a painful reminder of that fact.

This time he would keep a very close eye on him.

* * *

**A/N:** Much talking, no action - I know, but it is necessary.

We all know Yusaku is one hell of a detective, so it shouldn't be surprising that he suspects Kaito of being Kid. Sometimes I don't like how he takes the spotlight from Shinichi, but ok- he is older, he has more experience. I think that being a writer also gives him some advantage over his son. He sees was could be possible and combines that with his analytic skills. But every now and then he really is just too good to be true…

Whatever - Hope you liked it and see you in two weeks :)


	4. Bed-talks

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**A/N:** Because I'm done with the chapter and I don't know if I'll be able to upload tomorrow, you get this one a day early. Enjoy :D

* * *

**Chapter three  
Bed-talks  
**ooOO-OOoo

Shinichi lay on his bed and stared at the page in his history book rather listlessly. He had a hard time concentrating on it, as his mind was occupied with something else, namely Kuroba Kaito aka Kaitou Kid. After reaching the bottom of the page for the third time and still not remembering a single thing about the text, he called it quits and shut the book with a thud. Thankfully vacations were starting next week, so he hopefully hadn't to worry about falling behind his schedule because of the latest events.

He rolled over on his back and laced his fingers behind his head, pondering over what to say to Nakamori tomorrow and what rather to keep to himself. For sure he couldn't tell him about Kid's real identity. If Kuroba would be ok with that, he could have gone straight to Nakamori instead of involving Shinichi, what meant that he still held a tiny spark of hope to come out of all this more or less unscathed.

Ok, so how would he get the inspector to help out the thief who tap-danced on his nose since forever? The simplest way would be to appeal to his honor as a policeman, seeing that an attempted murder was much more serious than all what Kid had ever done. But would that be enough? They had nothing but Kid's word that this jewel truly existed (though Kuroba himself didn't believe that it was anything but a simple gem) and that this syndicate was after his life. Well – and Shinichi's statement as an eyewitness of course. That another criminal organization had just been busted could work in their favor, but nonetheless Nakamori would surely insist on Kid's surrender…

A short rap on his door dragged him out of his thoughts. "Come in," he called out, not even bothering to get up. He had heard this kind of knocking countless times and knew who was waiting outside his room. As expected, his father stood next to him a moment later. "Move over," he said calmly and shoved his son's legs off the bed, forcing him into a sitting position. "Hey, hey - careful, would you?" Shinichi complained, but complied nonetheless. Watching how his father got comfortable beside him, he wondered what was about to come. Usually, when one of his parents approached him like this, he knew that he was in trouble and had to prepare for a serious conversation. Most of the time it was either about his curfew or his detective work. Since he technically hadn't a curfew anymore, it had to be about the latter. A bit anxious, he waited for what his father had to say.

"How did you get to know Kuroba-kun?"

_'Leave it to him to come straight to the point.'_ Shinichi squirmed under his father's scrutinizing gaze and wriggled for an answer. He hadn't expected that he had to explain himself right away and hadn't prepared a story yet. The question was harmless enough, but Shinichi knew that something must have piqued Yusaku's interest and he hoped that it was just because he had known Kuroba's father. On second thought that would be bad as well if he really had known who Kid had been back then. Either way he had to answer now or it would be even more suspicious. Best to stay as close to the truth as possible. "I met him on a heist." That much was more than true. "He's a huge Kid-fan and somehow we ended up in a discussion about the thief, what lead us to this and that." Yep, still no lie. Gosh - this was awful. He didn't want to lie to his parents, but neither did he want to betray Kuroba's trust. After all, this was his secret and not Shinichi's.

Yusaku hummed. "On a heist you say? Then he must be well known by the police to be able to approach you there without being held back, unless you suddenly decided to pay attention to the Kid-signs-waving crowd."

Shinichi laughed sheepishly. _'Damn his logical thinking! He knows very well that I always stay on the police side of the barrier tape.' _"Yeah, seems like it."

"Shinichi." Oh, he recognized this specific tone in his father's voice and it didn't bode well for him. "You should be aware by now that I can tell right off when you are hiding something and I'm already certain that I won't like whatever it is this time."

Shinichi resumed silently. Snipers, thieves and a gem which grants immortality? Heck no - surely he wouldn't. Especially since 'Conan' was still all too fresh in his mind. Shinichi groaned inwardly. He wanted to tell his father everything, wanted to prove that he wouldn't jump into something reckless again, but he couldn't. At least not yet. Maybe after he'd talked to Kuroba again and who knew - maybe the thief would even give his permission?

Yusaku sighed heavily. If Shinichi wouldn't answer him directly, he had to try something different. "Let me tell you a story."

"Huh?" Shinichi raised a brow in surprise. What now?

"It's about a magician, a thief and a writer who was a part-time detective."

_'He's going to tell me about him and the first Kid? He got the picture awfully fast. Sometimes he really scares me,'_ Shinichi winced.

His father pretended not to notice his son's inner turmoil and turned his gaze to Shinichi's desk. The small white card from Kid's last heist lay there, remembering him of all the other ones he had seen over the years. "Said thief was after the biggest and most valuable jewels in the world and he stole them effortlessly, always made a big show out of it. Due to that, he became quite famous and soon a whole task force had been brought into being, solely to arrest him. Aside from his fancy tricks, he liked to announce his heists to the police with little riddles. The writer loved to solve these and helped the police more than once to decode them. After a few heists, the thief began to challenge the writer just for fun and sent him codes directly. One of those fell into the hands of the writer's son, but that is a different story." He gave a short smirk to Shinichi before he continued, his eyes looking on something long gone as he reminisced.

"The writer's wife was befriended with a magician, who was very successful and who taught her the art of disguising. As chance would have it, the thief also scintillated with his countless masks and roles and the writer suspected that thief and magician could be one and the same. All he lacked was evidence, but before he could find the missing proof, the magician died during one of his shows. It was a disaster no one could explain. The shows had always been flawless and the magician double-checked all of his tricks, but nonetheless it seemed to be an accident." And he _had_ searched high and low for anything that could hint to someone who'd tampered with the equipment, but to no avail. "After the magician's death, the thief vanished without a trace."

After a few moments of silence, he surfaced out of his memories and turned to his son again. "Now let us play 'what if'. I know that's usually not my thing, but humor me for a while. So, what if the magician really had been the thief and he'd had a son? What if after some years, said son went on where his father had left off? What if the writer had a son as well, who now was after the new thief? And what-" He stopped to take a deep breath and to lock his intent gaze with Shinichi's. "What if the magician's death hadn't been an accident?"

Shinichi gulped. His father was much too close to the truth for his liking. Hell, basically this _was_ the whole truth behind Kaitou Kid, fancy life-extending jewels aside. How was he supposed to react now? It seemed that after all these years, Yusaku hoped to finally find his answers. Could Shinichi really deny him the truth, the confirmation that his deductions had been right all along?

He felt an emerging headache pulsing behind his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew he had to give his father at least something. "Well, strictly hypothetically, what if the new thief and the writer's son had decided for a temporary truce for the sake of a greater good?"

Yusaku's eyes flashed with interest and a flicker of cautiousness. "A greater good? That depends, I guess. Could this greater good endanger the life or health of any of them? Strictly hypothetically of course."

His father just _had_ to ask about the one thing Shinichi couldn't sugarcoat. Well, he would have to try to side-step the actual question. "Let's just say that they both agreed to involve people who carry a gun legally for a living and that they do not intend to run off in any stupid solo-actions." There - totally reasonable, right? Right.

Yusaku raked back his hair in frustration. His assumption had been correct - he didn't like this one bit. Story-time was over. If he wanted to accomplish anything here, he had to change tactics drastically. "Ok - let's do some straight talking here. I, no _we_ will not allow you to get involved in another dangerous case, period."

_'What?'_ Shinichi stared at his father open mouthed. He couldn't be serious, could he? He understood that his parents worried for his safety and that they didn't want him to get hurt (he himself didn't want to get hurt either, thank you very much), but this was different than the BO. He would have back-up from the police straight from the beginning and he wasn't affected personally, so he held no wish to bring the syndicate down all by himself. He would be a mere go-between for Kid and the task force and his place would be at the sidelines anyway. His father would surely understand if he explained that properly. "I'm afraid you got me wrong. All I will do is pass on information between, uh, the concerned parties. And-" He scratched his head a bit awkwardly. "I might already have an appointment tomorrow to get everything started."

"You already have..." Yusaku had a hard time controlling his voice, which was about to fail him. "Of course you have. And did you plan to inform us about this in any way?"

Shinichi felt bad. He hadn't thought about his parent's feelings so far. Would he have told them if his father hadn't confronted him?

This time the answer came easily. "I would have told you that I'm going to work with the Ekoda police-department as an informant, yes. I just can't let you in on the details, but it seems you already figured out most of it yourself anyway." With a half-smile, he tried to take off the edge of the conversation.

Yusaku sighed in defeat. He knew how stubborn his son could be. It was a trait he must have inherited from Yukiko, who could be just as headstrong if needed. Now mix that with a strong sense of justice and you fought a lost cause. "You won't back out of this, right?"

Relieved that he was understood and no longer on his father's bad side, he nodded firmly. "I can't let him hang. He can't speak up for himself and I still feel like I owe him."

"Alright, alright, but please - make sure to stay out of any trouble, will you? Pass on every information you have to, but let the police handle the rest."

"Okay, I'll remember that."

Knowing that this was the best he would get from his son for now, Yusaku stood up, squeezed Shinichi's shoulder and left his room. On the top of the stairs he stopped, gripping the banister. Again he had been unable to forbid his son to do something he already had set his mind on. It had been the same when they had discussed their move to LA or his stay in Tokyo after the Mystery-Train incident. The problem was that he could comprehend Shinichi's urge to help the thief. He would have done the same in his position. On the other hand he had a sense of foreboding, which just didn't sit right with him.

_'Oh my - Yukiko won't be pleased with me.'_

ooOO-OOoo

Just about to lean back on his bed, the doorbell startled Shinichi for the second time this day. After a sour look to his cane, he decided that if it was Ran, she would come up to his room anyway. Stairs were just not his friends these days. A few moments later he heard soft footsteps on said stair, crossing the corridor and stopping in front of his door. A warm smile tugged at his lips as he watched Ran entering his room after a light knock. Just the sight of her made him feel easier - she always had this kind of effect on him. After the rather tense conversation with his father it was exactly what he needed right now. "Hey Ran."

She met his smile with a bright one herself. Her yellow dress fluttered around her knees as she made her way over to his bed and sat down next to him, right were Yusaku had sat just minutes ago. The silver necklace he'd given to her for her birthday (and which really had saved his neck) caught some rays of the afternoon sunlight and glinted as she leaned forward to give him a kiss.

"How was lunch with your parents?" he asked carefully. Considering their usual behavior, he guessed that it had ended in a disaster again.

She rolled her eyes. "Awful like always. Not even for my birthday they manage to act like matured people for longer than five minutes, but just wait – one day they will realize that they still love each other."

He couldn't quite suppress a grin, hearing her words. He felt like he had to be the luckiest guy ever, to have a girlfriend like Ran. She was caring to a fault.

After their encounter with Vodka she'd visited him in the hospital every day to cheer him up, because he'd been a bit moody being confined to bed yet again. She distracted him by telling news and gossip about their friends at school or her father's latest antics. He loved how she would use her hands to unknowingly make funny gestures while she spoke and he'd laughed when she glared at him after he'd pointed it out to her. They'd finally come back to the light bickering and bantering which had always been a part of their relationship. But now he could shut her up with a kiss whenever he wanted to. Of course she used the same tactic and so their little quarrels mostly ended up in some kind of kissing competition. Well, he wouldn't complain about that.

"Shinichi, what are you grinning about like an idiot? Did you even listen to me?" Ran's voice made him blink and he turned his focus back to her. "What? Sure- I mean... uh..." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and gave her an apologetic smile.

She crossed her arms and huffed. "I swear, one day you'll be in really big trouble if you keep spacing out on me."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please repeat what you've said? I'm listening - no more daydreaming, I promise." He relaxed when he saw how the corners of her lips turned upward again.

She pulled one leg on the bed and tucked it under herself while she spoke. "Remember how I've told you about that karate camp?"

He racked his brain. Karate camp, karate camp...This must have been when he'd still been Conan. A fuzzy memory of her telling him something like that while he'd been engrossed in one of his books reemerged out of the depths of his mind. Sadly he couldn't recall any details, so he decided to feign knowledge as best as possible. "Uh yeah, I think you've told me in the agency while I was… reading?"

"Yes."

_'Pfuh... that was a close call.'_

"They called me today and I've been given an offer to participate," she beamed.

"That's great! So you'll get a chance to polish your skills, right? Not that you would need it, but anyway. Congrats!" He was really proud of her, being the strong girl that she was and he meant that in more ways than just karate. She'd grown into an independent woman who was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and also her loved ones. Sure, he would miss her for the weekend or the week she would be away, but it would be selfish to dampen her joy. "So, when does the camp start? Do you want me to have a discrete eye on your dad for a few days?"

"Well, actually..." she bit her lip and lowered her eyes to her lap, wringing her hands. "Actually it's a summer camp and I will be away a little longer." A few awkwardly silent seconds ticked away. "It's for a month." She looked up at him with an almost shy expression, waiting for his reaction.

He swallowed. A month. She would be away for a whole month.

Somehow he'd hoped they would spend a bit more time together now that they'd finally confessed to each other and the constant shadow the Black Organization had caste don their lives was gone. But Ran had not known any of this when she'd signed up for the camp, so it would be unfair to make her feel bad about it. Besides...

He had to hold back not to show his relief, but Ran being away suited his plans just perfectly right now, as mean as that might sound. Helping Kid would need all his attention and he was pretty sure that she wouldn't be happy to know that he was about to throw himself into the next case. All the same, it bothered him not being able to see her for four weeks. He didn't like to let her out of his sight, but he knew he was being overprotective. Dealing with madmen who tried to kill you and your family and friends did that to you. "That's… quite long."

"I know and I'm torn between going or staying myself, but I think- I think I would like to go if that is ok with you."

He caught her distressed look quite baffled. "Ran, you really don't need to ask for my permission. It's true that I'm rather at your side than let you go off alone, but that doesn't mean that you can't do as you please." He bit his inner cheek, feeling uncomfortable. "I think I just need a bit longer until I'll be able to stop looking over my shoulder all the time."

Ran moved closer to him. Her eyes were full of understanding. "I know- I've caught myself a few times casting suspicious looks at people just because they were wearing black." She shrugged helplessly with a lopsided smile. "And don't worry, I won't be alone there. It's a mixed material arts camp and I know that Kazuha-chan will participate as well." She tapped a finger against her lips musingly. "I think she said Kendo is also offered and I'm pretty sure if that's the case, Hattori-kun will show up too."

Knowing that Hattori still hasn't come clean with Kazuha about his feelings, he sure as hell would show up there, Kendo or no Kendo. There was no way he would let her run off and strolling through a camp full of trained young men without him. Shinichi grinned, more at ease now, knowing that his friends would take care of Ran. "Alright, so you will be in good company and I'll try to work on my unnecessary worrying."

Ran's mood brightened up and she bounced lightly. "So Meitantei, what about this math problem you've told me about? I take it you're stuck and need the help of your incredible girlfriend?" she asked teasingly. Shinichi had always been on top of the class and she knew it peeved him that he'd fallen so far behind. She just couldn't let him live it down – it was too easy.

Shinichi groaned and looked up to the ceiling. "Incredible you say?" Ran drew back at the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Incredible ticklish I'd say."

She squealed as he ambushed her and threw her back on the bed to run his fingers up and down her sensitive sides. It was just too good being just childish and they both relished in the feeling. He would bother about his meeting with Nakamori later. Right now, he just wanted them to be boyfriend and girlfriend – something that had been denied them far too long.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, yes – I kicked Ran out of the story for the time being, 'cause I decided to concentrate on the boys. Can't have her worrying all over the place again. We've had enough of that in 'Scars' I think. The talking turned out longer than I thought and it pushed some plot I'd planned for this chapter into the next one. So next time we will see how Shinichi handles his appointment with Nakamori-keibu. See ya!


	5. Deal

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**Chapter four  
Deal  
**ooOO-OOoo

The bustling around him was something very familiar and welcome to him. Yes, he liked to retreat into the safe haven of his parent's library, where no one disturbed the quiet and he could lose himself in his mystery novels, but sometimes he needed to feel the life pulsing around him. And few places were as suited for that as a police department – even if it wasn't the one Shinichi was used to; Ekoda PD wasn't that much different to Beika. A busy receptionist whose phone rang constantly, officers submitting reports before heading off again and a vending-machine with awful coffee. He grimaced at the watery brew in the paper cup, asking himself why he'd bothered to buy one in the first place and looked out for a place to discard it discretely. How anyone could keep up with this stuff was beyond him.

A quick glance at his watch told him that it was time for his meeting with Nakamori anyway and he set out to the inspector's office.

On his way he was met with some curious glances. Reaching the door in question, he ignored them all together. As much as he'd wanted to keep his name out of the press – after the shooting at the warehouse it had been impossible. At least he'd managed to reject any requests and invitations for interviews, but the reporters had been all too happy to write some quite ludicrous stories about him and the reasons why he'd vanished for two years. Thanks to that, he was almost more famous than before, what prevented him from leaving the house all that often. He'd come to dislike the attention and hoped that with some time everything would calm down again.

He rapped his knuckles against the dark wood and entered after the grumpy call to come in had sounded through the door.

Nakamori sat behind a huge desk, which was loaded with paper stacks and manila folders, all of them labelled with the name of a certain phantom thief. It seemed that the inspector thought rather poorly of the advantages an electronic database had to offer.

The sullen look on Nakamori's face as he waved Shinichi in to sit down in front of him, indicated that he wasn't pleased with his results so far and that he would try to make short work of their meeting. It was obvious from their previous encounters that working with Nakamori would be much more difficult than with Megure, who was familiar with Shinichi roaming around crime scenes since forever and who respected his line of work. He knew that Hakuba Saguru could tell a thing or two about how much Nakamori liked to have high-school detectives on the heist sides. Oh joy.

Whatever – he would have to deal with it. "Good morning Nakamori-keibu. Thank you for taking the time to see me," he said politely while he sat down in the visitor's chair.

"Kudo-san," the inspector greeted him with a curt nod. "You asked to talk to me about Kid, so did you remember something important about the last heist?" Nakamori damn well hoped that was the case, because he wasn't satisfied with the vague statement the teen had given so far. _'Got away after some struggling._' He huffed. As if this boy had come close enough to lay a single finger on the thief. Kid got away before he even blinked twice was more likely.

Shinichi could feel the annoyance and impatience radiating off Nakamori like heat waves. He suppressed a grin, knowing that what he had to say certainly would catch the inspector's attention. "Well," he said, leaning back casually. "Not exactly, but close enough." Seeing a vein popping out at Nakamori's temple he had to remind himself that he needed the older man's approval, but he could understand now why Kid enjoyed to tick him off so much. His behavior downright asked for it. He took a deep calming breath and sat straight again. "It's not about the last heist specifically, but about Kid's motives in general."

Nakamori frowned. What could the Kudo-kid possibly know about the thief's motives after just one heist? Ok – maybe two if one counted that one at the clock tower. The boy already had been a pain back then, he remembered grumbling. Surveying him, he decided to hear him out just the same. Of course he had heard about Kudo Shinichi before and he had to admit that the boy had shown some determination regarding the case with the Black Organization. The clear blue eyes met his gaze calm and confident; the cane leaning against the chair was a testimony of Kudo's dedication to protect. Nakamori folded his hands and leaned forward, propping his arms on the desk. "Ok, I'm all ears."

Shinichi braced himself. It was important that he brought this across properly and assuming that Nakamori's patience would run dry rather quickly, he decided to come straight to the point. "It seems that Kid himself is targeted. Someone wants him dead."

The inspector raised an eyebrow. "Want's Kid dead? How do you know that?"

"Well, this is the point where I have to confess that my statement hasn't been accurate and I apologize, but it was necessary."

Nakamori felt his temper rising. So he had been right. Damned kid had given a false statement. He forced himself to keep his cool. "Alright then, what has really happened on the roof?" he grudged through clenched teeth.

"A sniper tried to shoot Kid while we, uh, spoke. He didn't get him, but it hasn't been the first time," Shinichi said, deciding that Nakamori didn't need to know about his gadgets and how exactly he'd distracted the shooter. "Actually they are after him since the beginning. It is all thanks to Kid that no one had been injured till now."

"What?" Nakamori's bellowed shout caused Shinichi to flinch slightly. "You're saying that there have been snipers on Kid's heists all along and we didn't notice?"

Rubbing his abused ear, Shinichi nodded gravely. "I don't say it's your fault though. They work well-hidden and know how to stay out of the spot-lights, but recently they've shown a lot more aggression and Kid is concerned about the people who attend his heists." That was just part of the truth, but it couldn't hurt to point out that the thief cared about his fans and also his task force. "That's why he chose to contact me and with that the police too."

"Yeah, and for sure it has nothing to do with him trying to save his own hide," Nakamori remarked snidely, though he knew that Kid never would endanger anyone if he could help it. It was the one and only rule the thief insisted on and Nakamori had to give him some credit for that, if begrudgingly so. "So why, pray tell, do they want Kid dead? Did the bastard steal something from them?"

Shinichi shook his head no. "Quite the opposite. They wanted him to find a jewel _for_ them, but he refused. After learning about some of their dark deeds, he proclaimed to find the jewel before they would and destroy it, what got him a ticket to the top of their hit list."

"All this trouble because of a glittering rock? Are they stupid?"

Shinichi shrugged. Actually he'd thought something along the same lines, because honestly – immortality? Through a gem? But his experiences with the BO had taught him that some people acted beyond reasoning if just the profit was promising enough. "That's the state of facts. Kid asks for a collaboration to stop them, before someone gets harmed."

The inspector seemed to consider this new information. "And how would that work? He is a criminal – would he join our meetings, give his input and disappear in a puff of smoke afterwards?"

"No, I don't think that he'd be comfortable sitting in a police department in the middle of his task force, although… maybe he would, but that's beside the point. I will act as his go-between, just like now."

"Ha!" Nakamori laughed out scoffingly. "You – a self-proclaimed detective, the Heisei Holmes, want to play the sidekick for a thief? And not just any thief – for _the _Kaitou Kid?"

Shinichi reined in his anger and kept his voice level. "Call me a sidekick if you want to, but I'll do what I think is the right thing to do. I don't approve of Kid's methods so far, but this is bigger and more important than catching a thief who doesn't even keep what he steals."

Taken aback by the teen's calm speech, Nakamori sobered quickly. Kudo had a point there. He fucking hated the elusive thief for his smug grin and his humiliating pranks, but that was mostly because Kid poked at his pride with glee. After all, he had to acknowledge to himself that he didn't want to see the thief shot by some thugs and he would be damned if he'd let a criminal gang run riot in his jurisdiction. He cleared his throat. "You want me to work with him? Fine then, and somehow I'm sure that you already have a plan how to pull this off, but tell your thief that I _will_ throw him behind bars as soon as this is over." His eyes narrowed. "I don't give a damn if he gave everything back or not, he broke the law and for fuck's sake, he will take responsibility for that." His hand slammed down on his desk, sending some papers flying.

Shinichi gulped – Kuroba wouldn't like that, though he most probably expected something like this. "I'll make sure to tell him. So, do we have an agreement? No one arrests Kid as long as this operation isn't over and he will provide you with what he knows about this syndicate to bring them down."

Nakamori gave him a long look, obviously still not quite coming to terms with the new situation. "Alright, you got yourself a deal, boy."

Inwardly sighing in relieve, Shinichi nodded at Nakamori and got up. "Thanks' for your time again, Keibu. I will be in touch with you as soon as I've spoken with Kid."

"Have it your own way, but don't come running if the wacko drives you nuts," Nakamori grunted.

Not for the first time during this conversation Shinichi was more than grateful for Megure's much calmer temper, even though the stout inspector could have his outbursts if rubbed the wrong way.

Closing the door behind him, he turned around to head home, but collided with someone who wanted to enter Nakamori's office just this second.

"Uuf," he wheezed, as the air was temporary knocked out of him. Looking down, he was met with an unruly shock of brown hair and two big eyes staring up at him in surprise.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't look where I was going. Are you hurt?" the girl sputtered out and looked him over concerned. For a moment he thought he was looking at Ran, who somehow had managed to make a mess of her hair, but the voice didn't match and her eyes where a different shade of blue.

"No no, it's fine – I'm alright," he assured her, just to be hauled to the side by a third person.

"Ahoko, pay attention will you? You could have knocked him out with that pig-head of yours."

"I apologized, Bakaito! Stop insulting me or I'll mop you six ways from Sunday."

Shinichi gaped at the bickering pair and his eyes widened even more as he recognized _who_ was still holding onto his arm. _'What the hell…?'_

Before he could gather his wits, 'Bakaito' dragged him down the corridor. "I'll make sure that you really didn't damage the poor boy. Greetings to your old man," he waved at the girl, who stuck out her tongue at him before they turned a corner and were out of sight.

Finally freeing his arm with some effort, he hissed at the boy before him. "Kuroba, what are you doing here?"

"Visiting Nakamori-keibu obviously," he responded good-naturedly while giving a passing officer a greeting nod, completely at ease.

Shinichi stared at him for a few seconds - and then for a few seconds more. "What?"

Kuroba laughed. "Come on - let's have some actually drinkable coffee and we can talk. My treat."

ooOO-OOoo

"When you've said it would be your treat I didn't expect you to invite me to your home," Shinichi said, surveying the kitchen with a steaming cup of black coffee in his hands. It smelled delicious and he took a relishing sip.

Kuroba had settled for tea and eyed the detective in front of him amused. "Well, I didn't think a café would be the right place for this and I _did_ buy the coffee."

"Okay - point taken. So tell my why again did I meet you in the police department when that should be the last of all places for you to run around?"

Kuroba dumped a teaspoon of sugar in his tea and stirred it. "I'm friends with Nakamori Aoko since we were kids and we attend the same class. To be more precise, she lives right down the street and I've spent a lot of time with her and her father after my dad died. They are like a second family to me," he explained.

Shinichi found himself staring yet again. "Just let me get this straight. You are friends with the daughter of Nakamori-keibu, who tries to arrest you when you are on your night-job and you meet him on an almost daily basis. And he didn't figure it out yet?"

Kuroba grinned rather smugly. "That's right. Oh, and by the way - Hakuba Saguru is in my class too." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Makes life quite interesting, don't you think?"

"Uh huh," Shinichi answered eloquently. He had to say, the thief was full of surprises. Every obstacle seemed to be just another interesting challenge for him. Though he remembered what Kuroba had said about keeping his family and friends save and realized that at least some of his playful attitude was a facade. He wasn't sure if the thief himself even was aware of it. Probably hiding his anger and sadness behind a cheerful mask has become second nature to him. No surprise, if he'd started acting like this after his father's death; it was a long time in which all the facets had melded into one, well, maybe two personas. The happy-go-lucky Kuroba Kaito on the one side and the enigmatic phantom thief on the other. And sometimes the behaviors switched, showing that they belonged to just one boy after all.

_'__Life has to be exhausting for him,' _Shinichi thought. He had first-hand experience with handling a double-life, but he wasn't sure if he or Kuroba had it worse. Being shrunk had given him the opportunity of clear lines between being 'Conan' or being 'Shinichi'. Kuroba was both of his identities all the time. Thinking about it made his head spin, but what he definitely knew was that keeping his secret from the Nakamoris had to tear Kuroba apart.

_'__But then again_,' he noticed, watching how Kuroba flipped his teaspoon in the air repeatedly with a smile, _'the guy seems to be overflowing with energy.'_

Shinichi sat his now empty cup aside. "So, Nakamori-keibu gave green light, but you know that he will be after you again as soon as this is over?"

"Expected that much. I wonder when the thought will hit him that he could have insisted on me turning myself in in exchange for his help," Kuroba chuckled. He hoped it would happen when he was in ear-shot. Nakamori's colorful cursing was always worth to be heard.

"Riiight," Shinichi said, perking a brow. "I hope you've already thought about something to get Snake and his gang, because I don't think the inspector will wait for long."

"Of course I did," came the nonchalant answer. "It's pretty simple actually. I will announce another heist, but this time my fans won't be allowed to see me up close; would be way too dangerous. And that way it also will be easier to notice anyone who isn't supposed to be there." He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head. "We'll pull off the usual catch-me-if-you-can part, but the task force will concentrate on getting Snake, so that he can lead us to his boss."

"You're aware that playing decoy could kill you?" Shinichi deadpanned. The thief was just too carefree for his liking.

Kuroba rolled his eyes. "Snake always aims for the heart and I'm going to wear my bulletproof vest, don't worry."

"And what if it won't be Snake, like at your last heist? It could be a different sniper and he might prefer headshots instead."

"It will be Snake, I'll make sure of that," Kuroba promised suddenly earnest. "The heist note will be published in the press and I will leave a definite hint that I'm sure the jewel is Pandora. He won't miss the chance to be the one to kill me _and _get Pandora."

_'__He is determined to take the risk,' _Shinichi mused. _'And it's not like I have a better plan at hand.' _Reluctantly he admitted that it might be their best option. The only place they knew the syndicate would show up for sure was at the heists. "Which jewel do you have in mind?"

Kuroba sighed and stood up to fill the cups again. "That's the only crux in my plan. I've already checked every possible jewel that might be Pandora here in the area and there are no interesting exhibitions in the near future."

"Can't we use a fake? Just give it a fancy name and it might pass for a high-class gem."

"Am afraid that's not possible. They have experts who might look through it and that would be as good as telling them directly that I've involved the police. It has to be a real one."

Shinichi bent his head in thoughts, hand at his chin. "Hmm… maybe I know someone who could help us out, but it won't be easy to get him to coope-."

"No," Kuroba cut in without turning to the detective while he put the pot back on the hotplate of the coffeemaker.

Shinichi frowned at his back. "I didn't even tell you-"

"I know who you have in mind and I say no. I'm not going to involve civilians."

"I'm a civilian too, you know?"

"Strictly taken, yes, but you're aware of what you've signed up for and you're not some crazy art collector who's only purpose seems to be to catch me," Kuroba pointed out.

"Ok, got it. No Suzuki-san it is then." On second thought, Suzuki wouldn't have agreed to the whole thing anyway. He was too focused on his obsession to catch Kid to step back. "So what? We wait and hope that someday a suitable jewel is exhibited?" He watched how Kuroba placed the refilled cups on the table. The thief seemed to ponder over something as he dipped and lifted his teabag in the hot water. "Kuroba?"

"I have to make a call," he said and suddenly ran out of the kitchen, leaving behind a puzzled detective. _'What is he scheming now again?'_ Reaching for his coffee, he decided that he would just wait what Kuroba was coming up with. After a few minutes he heard the muted speaking in the hall stop and Kuroba came back in.

"I got us a jewel," he proclaimed satisfied.

"That sure was fast. How did you manage?"

"My mom is overseas at the moment and she has… connections."

"Do I want to know?" Shinichi asked a bit worried.

"Don't think so. Anyway – she can organize that a touring exhibition will add Tokyo to their schedule. Among other things they are putting a sapphire-bracelet at display that's called 'Circle of Rain'. They are rather small stones, representing raindrops, but there is one larger one that embodies a pond or the sea – who cares." Kuroba shrugged. "I've had it on my list, but so far it never had been exhibited close enough for a heist." He carefully blew over his tea to cool it down before taking a sip. "Because they've already announced their visits in the other cities, they'll have to work us in somehow, so it will take some time. Most likely in three weeks, but mom will give us the details later. Gives us a bit time to prepare properly at least."

"Prepare? Us?"

Kuroba grinned at him cheekily. "Admit it – you always wanted to see how I'm working. I'll give you the rare opportunity to peek behind the curtains." He leaned forward almost predatorily. "You, my dear detective, are going to plan my next heist with me."

* * *

**A/N:** I decided that if I finish a chaper early you can as well read it - where is the point in holding it back one week? This was my first time writing Nakamori-keibu. Is it weird that I enjoyed writing all the swearing? Somehow I like the nicknames 'Bakaito' and 'Ahoko' – I just had to bring them in ^_^ And Shinichi as Kid's trainee? I wonder how that will turn out. ;D


	6. Training

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**Chapter five  
Training  
**ooOO-OOoo

Again he asked himself how he had managed to end up in this kind of situation. Right now he stood next to a desk in a room full of gadgets, watching how one of the most wanted thieves of their time was bent over some blue-prints with a critical eye. Humming thoughtfully, Kuroba drew a line across the paper that already was covered with notes and numbers. Every now and then he would snap his fingers when a thought struck him and add something here and there. How he could read anything out of this mess, Shinichi had no idea.

It had been almost a week since his first meeting with Nakamori. The inspector wasn't pleased with their plan, nicely put, but just like Shinichi he hadn't been able to suggest a better one. The police never had heard of this syndicate, but Nakamori tried to get something out of undercover-agents from other divisions. Very subtle of course. Yes, even Nakamori knew how to act subtle if needed. Given that the whole crime-scene was trying to lay low at the moment, it would take some time if possible at all. They couldn't risk blowing their agents cover. Also he had sent a forensics team to the building the sniper had been in, to see if they could find anything useful. Unsurprisingly they came back empty handed – Shinichi had expected as much from a trained assassin.

Kid's assistant had been able to tell them the time the sniper had left and a vague direction he'd headed to. Because the assistant had been worried about his master, he had waited until Kid had safely gotten away instead of trying to follow the shooter.

With these information they had sent officers to the shops and offices next to the Elite Hotel. Nowadays every business had their own surveillance cameras and under the pretext that they searched for hints about Kid, they had gotten the tapes quite easily. One record had even shown a person with a long-shaped bag slung over the shoulder exiting the building, but all they could make out of it was that the sniper was most likely male and that the time the assistant had given was correct. The clothes had been nondescript and he had worn a baseball cap, hiding his face. So that had been a dead end and they were back with Kid's (admittedly) risky plan.

Kuroba's mother had given them the exact date and location for the exhibition and the thief had come up with the blue-prints and whatsoever more astonishingly fast. They still had three weeks until the heist and Shinichi was surprised how much planning and preparation such a coup took. Sure, he'd known that it wouldn't be done in one night, but during their brainstorming sessions, Kuroba had shown him how much there was that had to be taken into account. Started from simple things like the building's layout, to the hardly predictable weather, to whatever little detail that could go wrong. 'Always be prepared' wasn't just a catchphrase for the thief, it was a mindset. For every plan b, he also had a plan c and d. And seeing the results, it worked pretty well for him.

"Alright," Kuroba said and capped his marker. "Look here, this should solve our little problem with the elevators." Shinichi leaned in closer, so he could see what the thief was pointing at. The exhibition would take place in a private art-gallery that was situated on one of the top floors of a company building at the outskirts of Shibuya. Normally Kid would have taken out all the elevators so that the task force would be exhausted after running up the stairs, but this time he needed them at full attention. What also meant he had to make sure that no one would be able to use the elevators to escape, because he wanted to seal off the heist area.

At all three elevators, Shinichi could see a rectangular object sketched in on their top, accompanied by some calculations. He might not be that much into engineering as Kuroba was, but he recognized a bomb when he saw one. "You want to blow them up?" he asked in disbelieve.

Kuroba huffed offended. "No, of course not. Look closer." Shinichi did and with some difficulty he deciphered Kuroba's scrawling. The amount of explosive material was indeed too small to blow up a whole elevator, but for sure enough to disrupt the electrical supplies.

Kuroba nodded when he saw Shinichi's eyes flash in understanding. "I will place a contact the elevators will connect with when they reach the floor. It will activate the small bombs, which will go off as soon as the contact is broken again. I will give a device to quickly disable them to Nakamori-keibu. After all, we don't want him to be stuck up there if need should be for a fast evacuation or anything else."

It had been interesting to accompany Kuroba while he staked out the heist-site and had shown a rather calculating and pondering side of himself. It was just like he'd promised – a peek behind the curtains of a well-orchestrated show.

While Kuroba had mostly taken care of the heist-planning-part, Shinichi had pointed out where the police needed to place officers to observe all neighboring buildings, or even snipers to efficiently take out any shooters their colleagues weren't able to reach in time. That they should be taken rather alive then dead went without saying, as it would completely defeat the purpose of the whole operation when they ended up with a dead sniper.

He also had considered asking the FBI for information and help, but they were back in the USA to wrap up the BO case on their end. Their involvement would have been debatable anyway. They already had to declare why they had been acting in Japan without permission, though the outcome had been important and advantageous to such an extent that most probably there wouldn't be any problems.

Kuroba had listed all heists were Snake or another sniper had shown up to see if there were any patterns. Blue Birthday, Red Tear, Chrystal Mother and lately on every heist he'd held after the BO had been taken out of the picture. The results were disappointing because Snake most of the time just had threatened Kid and vanished right afterward. The house Kid had followed them to on their first encounter was long since abandoned.

Shinichi watched how Kuroba stretched his back and got up. "I think we'll call it quits for today. Feel like eating something? I'm starving."

"Sounds good," Shinichi answered and followed him out of the hidden room. He remembered how Kuroba had shown him the entrance through the revolving picture in his bedroom. If the thief had aimed for a surprised reaction, Shinichi's saucer-eyed expression must have satisfied him quite a bit. A hidden door in a wall wasn't really something Shinichi never had seen before, but the room behind it surely was.

He still wondered about how exactly the room was embedded in the house, because it looked much larger than it should have been regarding the outer walls. There even was a car aside from loads of technical devices and several of Kid's trademark uniforms. Shinichi's question how he would get the car outside, Kuroba had just shrugged off. He preferred the hang-glider, as it wasn't as noticeable as the fancy sports car when he came home after a heist. Would be a bit difficult to explain why there was a car leaving and returning if the only occupant in the house didn't own a driver's license. It was more of a memento.

Unlike Shinichi, Kuroba was a decent cook. He didn't even use recipes. He loved to experiment with different ingredients to create surprising flavors. Shinichi could make a thing or two as well, but he preferred dishes that didn't need much effort. Less time in the kitchen, more time to read. During his stay with the Mouris, Ran had taught him some basics and he made quite a good assistant now, but today they both didn't feel like standing in the kitchen for hours, so a short time later they sat down with one steaming bowl of instant ramen each.

Shinichi shoved some of his notes aside, which were spread out on the table. He spent so much time at Kuroba's house that he'd decided to bring his homework along, so he could work through it whenever they took a break from their heist-planning. Ran had left for the camp at the beginning of the week, what saved him to cook up an explanation for his constant absence. His parents knew where he was going, but as far as his mother was concerned, he was just studying with Kuroba. She was happy to see her son was spending time with someone his age. Aside from Ran he'd never had any close friends, though he'd always been quite popular and Hattori wasn't in town that often. Obviously his father had yet to tell her about the details of Shinichi's latest case other than that he was a consultant for the Ekoda PD from time to time or she would have locked him up in his room by now.

His father was a different matter. Their conversation had been kind of a confirmation that Kuroba was Kid and to conclude that they were working on more than just math or history wasn't that far of a stretch. For now he seemed to be content with the situation, just how long that would last was the question.

"How's it going?" Kuroba asked, chewing on some noodles and nodding at the pages covered in Shinichi's neat handwriting.

Shinichi glanced at the notes and grimaced at the thought of the stacks of papers waiting at home for him. "Well enough, I think," he sighed tiredly. "At least I'm still within my schedule, so I should be able to finish everything before school starts again."

Kuroba eyed him up intensely. Shinichi had always been a bit pale, but now he looked almost sickly so. He had seen enough of the detective's daily routine to know that he was slowly but steadily working himself into the ground and he didn't like it. "You need some change of pace, Tantei-kun," he recommended, balancing some vegetables on his chopsticks. Shinichi looked at him a bit uncomprehendingly, not very fond of the thief's suddenly mischievous expression. Kuroba winked. "I think I might know just the right thing for you. Your leg is all better, isn't it?"

"Yes," Shinichi answered warily. He was glad that he didn't need the cane anymore; it had been annoying. "What are you getting at?"

There it was again. Kid's famous ear-to-ear grin. "You've been sitting on your butt for much too long. Your body needs activity and especially your leg needs to be exercised if you want to regain your full fitness. So, starting tomorrow you will work out with me."

Shinichi opened his mouth to object, but Kuroba wouldn't have it. "Ah ah ah!" He wiggled his index finger. "No backtalk Tantei-kun. You're in pathetic condition – not very surprising after your time as a midget and your injury, but if you want to attend the upcoming heist, you have to do something about it. Not that three weeks will be enough to fix you, but at least you should be able to run a set of stairs without almost keeling over afterwards."

"It's not that bad," Shinichi protested mumbling, what only got him a mocking 'really?'-look. "Fine," he muttered. He knew himself that he had been in better shape; he'd just kicked it down the road, justifying it with the mountain of schoolwork he had to do. Maybe he'd been a bit anxious that his regrown body couldn't handle the strain - not that he would admit that to anyone.

"Great," Kuroba exclaimed, already in full-blown trainer mode. "We'll work on your stamina, muscle building and I think some stretching wouldn't hurt either," he ticked off with his fingers.

Shinichi groaned inwardly. His soccer work-outs had left him with sore muscles often enough and he knew after tomorrow he wouldn't be able to do as much as lift his pinky.

ooOO-OOoo

"Just one more little lap and you are done for today – keep it up!"

Shinichi would have snorted, had he has the air to spare. Passing Kuroba, who was lazily perched on a bench, he gathered his remaining strength and tried to hold up a steady pace on his last round through the park. He concentrated on his breathing and the sandy ground beneath his sneakers. His sweaty dark blue tracksuit pants and shirt were clinging to his body, but he ignored the uncomfortable sensation.

The first few training sessions had left him as an aching, panting mess with the desperate need for an oxygen tent. After he'd overcome his unfounded fear (as Haibara had assured him) of his body failing him, he'd developed an eagerness bordering on obsession and Kuroba had to step in after Shinichi had managed to collapse while running.

So after that, Kuroba had kept a sharp eye on his training and insisted on taking breaks whenever Shinichi seemed to overdo it again, but that had only been during the first two weeks. Now that Shinichi's stamina was better, he'd upped the tempo and demanded always one round more, one sit-up more and one pull-up more than Shinichi would have done by himself. And he had started to drag Shinichi out of bed every morning at an (how the detective complained) unholy hour for a run in the park. It just had taken him one visit in Shinichi's bedroom at five o' clock to convince him to be ready and at the door punctual. The humiliation of his parents' questioning and amused looks when he'd crossed the kitchen with Kuroba trailing after him, wearing a suggestive expression, had done the trick.

In the end it had been worth the effort and being able to run ten laps in a row was clearly a progress. He already felt much less sluggish and had more energy. Though it was nothing compared to Kuroba. The thief definitely was athletic and could go on all day without tiring the least. Being Kid seemed to include a strict work-out and it sure paid off.

When the bench came in sight again, he was surprised to see that Kuroba wasn't alone anymore. _'Oh no, not again,' _he moaned, recognizing the dirty-blond hair. He considered running another lap just to avoid a conversation with the Brit, but his body told him that was no option. Winded he came to a stop before the pair and bent over, trying to catch his breath, hands on his knees.

"Kudo-san," Hakuba greeted him with a calm nod that Shinichi answered with an exhausted wave of his right hand. "Associating with Kid again, I take it?"

Kuroba bristled. "How often do I have to tell you that I. Am. Not. Kid!?"

Hakuba shot him just a sidelong glance, obviously used to his reaction. "Whatever Kuroba. I know what I know." He turned his attention back to Shinichi and almost towered over him with crossed arms. "You do realize that helping a wanted thief makes you his partner in crime?"

Shinichi took one last deep breath and straightened up to meet Hakuba's accusing gaze. "I have no idea what you are talking about Hakuba-san. Like I've told you the last three times: Our parents are old acquaintances, we help each other with our homework and we train together. Nothing more and nothing less."

Since Hakuba had ran into them in the park a week ago, he constantly bugged them with questions about their relationship and how they became friends so fast. Shinichi wasn't sure how much of this he could take before he would simply snap. At first he had laughed at Kuroba's hints about Hakuba's persistence, but that had changed radically after their second, not to mention their third encounter with the Brit. He acted almost like some kind of stalker and Shinichi hated to be shadowed for obvious reasons. Now he understood how Hattori felt when he had to deal with him.

Hakuba took his explanation with thin lips. "You sure are spending a lot of time together."

"And_ I_ am sure you can tell how much to the exact last millisecond," Kuroba grumbled, but Hakuba ignored him, concentrating on Shinichi. "I have also seen you in the Ekoda PD a few times, so excuse me, but I was just wondering – isn't Beika your usual base of operations?"

"What – afraid that I might take your spotlight?" Shinichi scoffed. He normally didn't get irritated that easily, but Hakuba had a talent to push his buttons. "Don't worry, I don't intend to intrude."

"I have a hard time believing that, considering that it has been Nakamori-keibu's office you've left and as we all know – the only case he is assigned to is the international thief 1412, Kaitou Kid." Hakuba's eyes narrowed and his glance shot over to Kuroba before focusing on Shinichi again. "And as it happens, you suddenly are very close to my number one suspect for being Kid. This can't be a coincidence and I want to know what is going on."

Shinichi suppressed the urge to look skywards. That was exactly what they didn't need – Hakuba poking around and getting in their way. Somehow he could even understand his fellow detective. He wouldn't have let up either if it were the other way round and Kid _was_ Hakuba's pet case after all. But Kuroba had made it clear: No involving of civilians. That Hakuba had seen him after his meetings with Nakamori was unfortunate, but nothing he couldn't explain.

The meetings itself had gone better than expected and much to Shinichi's relieve had been just between Nakamori and himself. The inspector wanted to keep the circle of informed people as small as possible, so nothing would leak out. He'd been furious when Shinichi implied that maybe the task force has been infiltrated, but in the end (and after much shouting and swearing) he had accepted the possibility. Right now he was about to select the most trustworthy task force members for the heist.

He returned to the situation at hand and noticed that Kuroba was facing away as if all of this didn't concern him at all; probably deliberately, but Shinichi knew that he was following every word of the conversation. "Hakuba-san, I have no idea what you are so worked up about," Shinichi said, straightening his back and burying his hands deep into the pockets of his tracking pants. "As I'm sure you've heard, Kid invited me to his last heist and the inspector seems to think that if he questions me over and over again, he will get the answers he searches for and that's all there is to it." The right corner of his lips lifted a bit. "Satisfied?"

He could see Hakuba's discontent with his answer, but shrugged it off. He wasn't willing to give him anything more and if Hakuba decided to get pissy about it, it wasn't his problem.

The blond teen gave a short huff. "I've expected more from you than covering for a thief, Kudo-san. I hope you come to your senses soon." With that he turned to leave. "Don't let your judgment get messed up by his smooth tongue," he said over his shoulder with a glance in Kuroba's direction.

They both watched Hukuba's retreating back in silence until he disappeared behind the next turn. "Huh," Kuroba let out in a dismissive manner.

"'Huh?' That is all you have to say?"

"Huh,… I told you he's a nosy prick?" the part-time thief offered.

"That's remarkably unhelpful, Kuroba," Shinichi scowled. "We need to keep him out of our hair or he _will_ get tangled up in all the nasty stuff you wanted to protect him from."

Kuroba looked positively indignant. "What makes you say I want to protect this plague? He's breathing down my neck all day, accusing me of being Kid and trying to make my life a living hell."

"Firstly, he is right about you being Kid, so that's hardly his fault and secondly, you consider him one of your detectives don't you? It certainly seems that you can get quite possessive and protective of what you consider yours." Shinichi listed in his 'matter-of-fact'-voice.

"You detectives just _have_ to make a deduction-show out of everything, don't you?" Kuroba complained almost pouting. He hated to be analyzed – it made him feel predictable and predictable wasn't an adjective he wanted to be attributed with. That was why he put so much work into his performances – to fascinate and surprise people. Detectives just seemed to be immune to his attempts. Maybe if they would stop trying to pick everything apart, they would be able to let themselves be captured by his magic and escape the grey reality for a short while.

"Kuroba," Shinichi called, snapping his fingers before the magicians face to get him back to attention. "Come on – we're done here and I want to take a shower before I head over to the police department."

"Right, can't have you being all smelly when you're talking to our beloved Keibu," Kuroba grinned and easily side-stepped the whack Shinichi aimed for his head.

ooOO-OOoo

Across town, in an office somewhere in Shinjuku, a man in his mid-fifties clicked and scrolled through the data on his computer. Windows popped up and were shut down again with practiced ease. The blinds were down, shutting out the morning sun. On a shelf behind him, books where bathed in the bluish monitor light. 'Jewels of the Century', 'Legends and Myths' and 'Gems – The Encyclopedia' where just a few of the titles imprinted on their spines.

A file with names opened and rolled down the screen; each connected with a photo of a jewel. Many of them were crossed out and a few were highlighted. The list stopped at 'Zodiacal Quartet' and with a single keystroke the entry was added to the failure-list.

The man leaned back with a sigh. Another gem that he had to remove from the list, another failed attempt on Kid's life. The whole night had been a total waste of time - fortunately not his own. He remembered days when that had been different; back when he'd started to gather thieves around him to help him find the one jewel that dominated his whole being, haunted his dreams.

Pandora.

He'd learned about it in a book of ancient legends back in university and had been fascinated immediately. A gem that granted immortality, that would let him live forever. He knew he deserved it – he was brilliant, a mastermind beyond compare. All his fellow students who'd scoffed at him and his obsession with Pandora, would be forced to admit that they'd wronged him.

He'd studied stellar constellations and comets for decades now and the one indicated for Pandora's tears, Volley, was about to pass the earth tomorrow night. He hadn't much time left and he wasn't the only one who was after the gem. Many had tried to interfere with his plans and all of them had been cut down to size. Assassins had taken care of the ones who resisted and his sphere of influence had grown.

Unfortunately it hadn't grown enough to keep up with another Tokyo entity. The Black Organization. They made the rules everyone who tried to take part in the underground games had to obey. Go against them and it was just a matter of time until your complete and utter elimination was sealed. He hated them, he despised them and he had laughed at their downfall – celebrated it with one of his best bottles of sake.

Now his time had come. He had to make his move now, as long as the underground was in uproar. He would find Pandora, drink her tears and become the new highest criminal in Tokyo. If he just knew which gem was Pandora. His hand raked through his salt-and-pepper hair in aggravation. There were not that much stones left which possibly could be the legendary gem and most of them were already in his hands, but none of them had shown the red glow in the full moon. He had to find it – he _had_ to!

He changed the monitor back to the start screen and pressed the call-button on the intercom on his desk. His secretary answered promptly. "Yes, Takamoto-sama?"

"Bring me a fresh cup of tea and the newspaper."

"At once, Takamoto-sama."

Another click and the feed of a surveillance camera filled the screen. It showed the hustle and bustle in a casino. Blinking lights, maids who served drinks to the customers and had he turned on the sound, he'd heard the typical noises of the slot machines, dealers and rolling ivory balls.

He loved his casinos and they brought in the needed capital for the planetarium he owned and the payment for his… employees. The human mind was so simple. Let them win a few times and they emptied their wallets to the last coin for you. It was that much easier than stealing and what was even better – it was legal. Legal money, used to pay his assassins.

A soft knock announced the arrival of his secretary. A young woman with classical Asian features crossed the thick carpet, a tray in her hands. She wore a traditional kimono and served his tea in the elegant way Geishas were taught to. His gaze roamed over her figure approvingly. He had a knack for traditional and pretty things. She placed the neatly folded newspaper on his desk, bowed deeply and left the room as silent as she had entered.

The steam of the tea evaporated in soft whirling clouds. He opened the newspaper and smoothed out the crinkling page - and paused.

Over two sides a headline announced a new Kid heist and next to a picture of the thief, flying against the moonlight with his glider, the diamond-shaped heist-note was printed.

ooOO-OOoo

The full moon still lingers,  
time that runs through our fingers.  
Soon it will be mine for always and forever,  
more precious than anything human kind could gather.

On short notice the leading part showed up,  
blue as the sea before the weather gets rough.  
Before the days are switching place,  
I'll sweep you off in my embrace

(grinning Kid-doodle)

ooOO-OOoo

Takamoto felt his adrenalin running high. That was it – it _had_ to be Pandora. This bastard found the jewel and rubbed it in with malicious joy. This son of a bitch was like a rusty nail in his side. For years he'd thought he had been taken care of, but two years ago he suddenly was back like a fucking Jack in the box.

It was almost impossible that it was the same man as back then. He had personally been on site to witness the magicians death, had watched how the hungry flames had devoured everything. But as someone who aimed for immortality himself, he wouldn't put it past the elusive thief to survive even an inferno like this.

Again he'd assigned Snake for the hit, but Kid had proven that he hadn't forgotten any of his tricks and kept on slipping through their net. It was no use – he had to know for sure who was hiding behind the monocle to get rid of him once and for all.

Getting an update on the Kurobas wasn't hard, as he'd kept tabs on them over the years – just to be sure. Everything he wanted to know was just a few clicks on his computer away. As far as he could tell, they lived a pretty normal life. The son attended school on regular basis and had taken a liking in magic tricks, what wasn't surprising regarding who his father had been. Also he was close friends with Nakamori Aoko, the daughter of Nakamori Ginzo, who was in charge of the Kid task force.

The wife wasn't home much since her son had been fourteen years old, jetting through the whole world. He was pretty sure that Kid had an assistant, but hadn't been able to pinpoint him so far. Nothing indicated that they were in contact with the should-be-dead Kuroba Toichi.

Now that the target of the next heist would be Pandora with almost certainty, it wasn't enough to send Snake out - the previous heists had proven as much. He needed to put Kid in a situation where his hands were bound and he would think twice about denying them the jewel.

A sly smirk appeared on his face.

Assuming that this Kaitou Kid was the original one, he surly wouldn't want his son to get hurt. Kuroba Kaito was the perfect leverage to put pressure on the phantom. And even if it was a different man behind the mask – Kid was known for his 'no-one gets hurt' policy and he wouldn't let an innocent boy die on his account.

Takamoto wasn't sure if the boy knew about his father's night-job, but Kaito was a huge Kid-fan and he had suspected him of being the thief for a while. The investigations had shown that the boy had alibies for a couple of heists and so Takamoto had let it go. His nerves tingled with excitement and impatience. Pandora was _so close_.

He pressed the call-button again. "Natsuki, send Snake up to me."

* * *

**A/N: **Uhg… did I mention that heist notes are difficult to write? Oh well…

We know close to nothing about the boss of the syndicate in MK, so I took some liberties with his character. He is very full of himself (bordering on mental disorder) and everyone has to bend to his will – all but him are worthless tools. Though he might be not as clever as he thinks he is or he would have a plan b if he doesn't find Pandora. But he is so sure he won't fail that he is absolutely fixated on this idea.

If there are any people out there with medical knowledge who are throwing their hands up in horror about Shinichi already training again – I'm sorry. Just think about him as someone who heals up really fast.

In Hakuba's defense: He doesn't know about the snipers and following the original MK manga, he'd only appeared in a few chapters and hasn't become Kuroba's friend contrary to how it's often said in fanfictions. But he knows what Kid did for Nightmares son and I think that gained Kid a bit of his respect. Aside from that, Hakuba had two appearances in DC where Conan and Hattori got to now him too (Chapter 299-302 / 562-566). Because they are not that close and he holds up his pride as a detective, well, that's why he acts a bit cold.

Big thanks to dreamingfifi!. I hope I patched up the plothole good enough that it makes sense now XD

Also a thanks to kudokaito 1412: I will certainly end this story. I'm always sad when I follow a story I like and the writer doesn't finish it. There are so much unfinished stories with great potential out there… *sigh*

So – see you all in two weeks!


	7. Intensification

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

* * *

**Chapter six  
Intensification  
**ooOO-OOoo

They walked to the bus-stop next to the police department in silence, traffic rushing by. The street-lamps flickered on and the two young men casted shadows on the pavement. Everything was settled for tomorrow night and both were tense. They knew what was at stake and how much could go wrong, but they had to trust in their own and the task force's abilities or they didn't even need to start the operation.

It would be one of the more clean 'get in – take the jewel – get out' – heists, as they didn't want to distract the officers with too much traps. Kuroba had been disappointed at first, because it very well could be Kid's last heist, but seeing that there wouldn't be an audience anyway, he'd finally given in.

Shinichi had arranged everything concerning the officers with Nakamori. Where they should stand, which traps they had to expect, where most likely Snake and his men could hide. Tomorrow they would meet again to go over everything one last time. They wanted to be sure that they'd eliminated as much risks as possible.

Kuroba had picked him up after the meeting to hear the latest news and now they were on their way home. This time Shinichi actually was going back to Beika instead of joining the thief back to his house. Kuroba had said he had to sort some things out before tomorrow and Shinichi had understood. Thinking about Ran and his own big secret gave him a pretty good idea about how Kuroba felt. Remembering how Kuroba had spoken about Nakamori Aoko, he was sure whom the thief would pay a visit now.

A black car with tinted windows pulled up next to them and made Shinichi jump a bit, but seeing that Kuroba was perfectly calm while the front window was lowered, he relaxed again. He bent down to glimpse inside the car and recognized the driver.

Yesterday he finally had met Kid's assistant Kounsuke Jii; an elderly man who held a great loyalty for the Kurobas. He already had been Toichi's stage assistant for his magic shows as well as his helping hand at night. Kuroba wanted that at least one person at the heist knew about Jii (how he insisted Shinichi should call him) and that the assistant on the other hand could rely on Shinichi if need be.

Jii gave him a friendly nod and turned to Kuroba. "Are you ready Bocchama?"

Kuroba sighed. "I hope so, Jii-chan, I really hope so." He gave Shinichi a sidelong glance. "Are you ok taking the bus or shall we give you a ride?"

Shinichi shook his head. "No no, it's alright. I'll take the bus. Go ahead Kuroba, I'll see you tomorrow after the meeting."

The thief smiled weakly at him. "Fine, till tomorrow then," he said and got into the car. Shinichi looked after them for a moment before he studied the bus-schedule to find the next connection to Beika. He'd come to be really fond of the magician/thief. Kuroba was ambitious, reliable and easy to get along with. Hopefully the upcoming conversation with Aoko would turn out right for him.

ooOO-OOoo

"Well," Haibara said while she turned away from Shinichi to enter the results of her tests into her laptop. "I think you should be fine as long as you don't overdo it."

Shinichi gingerly rubbed over the band aid on his arm that covered the tiny red spot where she'd drawn blood from him. He'd come to her before going home to get her all-clear before the heist. After his change from Conan back to Shinichi, he'd developed rather fickle feelings towards needles. On some days he didn't care how often Haibara would prick him with the nasty things (really, what was one needle more or less to him?) while on others, he could barely stand their sight. Today it was more the latter. He blamed it on the stress.

He watched Haibara's small form while she was typing. She still hadn't decided to take the antidote and he didn't want to push her, knowing that it would lead most likely to a stubborn reaction. It was her choice and eventually she would come to terms with it – in whichever form that might be. Until then she would live her life as Haibara Ai, stay with the professor and go to school with the shounen-tantei-dan. They were still sad about Conan's departure and having Haibara around helped a great deal to cope with it.

Shinichi would have liked to discuss the upcoming police-operation with her as she always was good for providing a fresh point of view, but he'd decided against it. The Black Organization was still too present in her mind and he didn't want to upset her. Besides - he wasn't allowed to talk about it anyway. If just everything would go as planned tomorrow.

Noticing his concerned expression, Haibara's glance narrowed suspiciously. "You _are_ just attending a usual heist, aren't you?" Oh my, she just knew him too well sometimes.

"What? Sure I am," he tried to give his voice a convincing tone and quickly got up to prevent any further questions. He reached for his jacket. "I have to go now – it's late. Thanks Haibara," he waved, glad to get away before she could dig deeper. "Tell the professor I said hi."

Haibara watched him go, knowing that he hadn't told her the truth. _'Funny to suddenly be on the other side of his secretiveness,' _she thought. _'Now I understand a bit better how Ran-san must have felt.' _Heaving a sigh, she turned back to her laptop. She wasn't his babysitter and he had a head with a brain on his shoulders. Her fingers stopped typing and hovered over the keys. Said brain had gotten him into trouble more than once. _'You'll be fine – right, Kudo-kun?'_

ooOO-OOoo

"Tadaima," Shinichi called tiredly as he entered the house and kicked off his shoes so they landed in a corner. On second thought he picked them up and placed them neatly side by side. He didn't need trouble with his mother right now; the day in the police department had been exhausting enough. As soon as the morning newspaper with the heist-note had been out, reporters had tried to swarm the building Nakamori's division was situated in. As always they wanted to know if the inspector already had any clues about when and where Kid would appear. It had been a mad-house.

Officers had fended off anyone who tried to sneak in – and the reporters where quite creative, Shinichi had to give them that much. Nonetheless they had been annoying and working concentrated had been almost impossible. He was just glad they had decided to publish the note only one day before the heist or they'd had to deal with this even longer.

As an advantage of a staged heist, Nakamori hadn't actually to decipher the note this time, as he already knew the location, time and target. Therefor Hakuba had shown up and Nakamori'd had a hard time explaining him why he wasn't allowed to participate while Shinichi was obviously involved. In the end he had made good use of his wide range of vocabulary and yelled at the bright-haired teen that he would bite his head off if he dared to show his face anywhere near the heist-site. If looks could kill, Shinichi would have dropped dead on the spot.

Now all Shinichi wanted was something for dinner, his bed and maybe reading a few pages in the new mystery- book he'd bought on his way back. Slipping into his house-shoes, he shuffled into the kitchen to look if his mother had any leftovers in the fridge. She had stopped to expect him back for dinner, since most of the time he ate with Kuroba and got home late. Rummaging through the boxes, he found some rice and chicken and heated them up in the microwave.

Leaning against the kitchen-counter and waiting for the 'ping', he realized that no one had answered his earlier greeting. That his father was nowhere to be seen wasn't surprising – he was working on a new novel for his 'Night Baron' series and locked himself in to write frequently. Now that Beika was known as his usual place of residence, his editors had it much easier to get a hold on him, what put a lot more working load on him.

What was strange was that his mother hadn't given him a cheerful 'tadaima' and her usual hugging-assault. Since his parents had decided to move back to Beika, his mother had taken on the role of the perfect mother, what included a habit of being there when he got home and if she went out, there would be a note left for him. On bills, post-it's, even as frosting on his favorite lemon-pie. It seemed she wanted to make up for the lost time when she'd been away from her son and as long as she didn't go overboard, he would let her do as she liked.

Confused, he glanced outside. It had started to rain, but he could see the car parked in the driveway and the lights in the house had been on when he got here.

Deciding that most probably she was just in the bathroom, he got some chopsticks out of a drawer and took his now hot meal over to the table. Ready to dig in, his glance fell on the newspaper. The page with Kids announcement was on top and heavily crinkled. Huh.

His parents, especially his father, were very tidy and usually the newspaper would be in the rack when all were finished reading it. And it certainly never looked that abused. Confused he got up and went into the living room. A pillow lay carelessly discarded on the ground next to the closed door to the hallway that led to the library and his father's bureau. It was like following breadcrumbs.

He opened the door, crossed the hallway – and came to a dead stop.

He had seen his mother angry more often than he could count – she was a passionate woman, but this was the first time he actually felt like turning on his heel and fleeing would be a very wise decision. Her rage was literally fuming around her.

She sat in front of his father's bureau with crossed arms and legs and her expression was settled between 'I will camp out in front of your damn door until you get the hell out of there.' and 'Talk to me and you will die a slow painful death.' When she heard Shinichi nearing, her eyes threw daggers at him. Very sharp and pointy daggers.

"You-" Her breathing was heavy and she obviously had a hard time controlling her temper. Instinctively he took a step back. His voice came out high and small after the words had made it around the lump in his throat. "Kaa-san?"

That was enough to let her erupt. "What is going on in that supposedly genius mind of yours?" she yelled and got up with spring-like speed, jabbing her finger into his chest, sending him back against the next wall. "Getting mixed up in something dangerous? Planning something stupid that will most probably get you in deep trouble _again? Not telling me anything?" _By now her voice was high-pitched, but it wasn't what made Shinichi wince. She was right and guilt turned his stomach.

He tried to form a reasonable sentence to justify what he did and to reassure her that everything was fine, but his brain refused to function properly. There was nothing he could say to her to justify anything. He had known that his father hadn't told her everything, but he'd chosen to keep it that way because he had been afraid that she would forbid him to help Kuroba. And he couldn't assure her everything would be fine, because he simply didn't know himself.

While he feverishly thought about a way to sooth his mother, the door next to them opened. The silent sound was enough to let Yukiko's head snap around. She backed away from Shinichi to direct her fury at her husband, who anxiously stood on the threshold. A rare sight only Yukiko could elicit. "And you – you knew about it all along! How could you keep something that important from me?" she shouted, arms akimbo. "Are you two totally insane?"

Yusaku took a step towards his trembling wife. "Yukiko, I'm sorry," he said calmly and put his hands gently on her shoulders. As if he'd flipped a switch, she immediately leaned into him - her anger gone as fast as it had boiled up. "What if we hadn't talked about Kid's heist and you hadn't let slip that Shinichi was working with him?" she almost sobbed, while Shinichi raised a brow at his father. _'You've let something slip?' _Yusaku answered just as wordlessly with an apologetic shrug. _'I hadn't had my coffee and the day had been long.' _

"What if he'd gone to the heist and something happened to him? I wouldn't even have known that he'd been in danger." Now she really was crying and both men cringed. They were used to a happy, energetic or sometimes angry Yukiko, but to see her crying set them on the edge. Yusaku rubbed her back in comforting circles. "Shinichi was so silent, lying on that hospital bed, his face so pale against the white sheets – it's still haunting me in my nightmares," came her muffled voice from where her face was pressed against his shirt. "I don't want to relive this horror."

Yusaku tightened his hold on her. "You won't have to my heart." He gave his son a stern look over her shaking shoulder. "He's not going to attend the heist."

Shinichi gulped. How would he explain that to Kuroba and Nakamori?

But one look in his mother's red-rimmed, pleading eyes as she turned to him melted away any resistance. How could he be so cruel to make her worry over him like that again? He was ashamed that his first thought had been about the heist and not his mother's well-being. He had known that she'd been shaken from what had happened, but that it was that bad… Suddenly he saw her whole behavior in a different light. It wasn't just guilt that she had left him behind; it also was fear to lose him – not to be there when he needed her. "It's alright Kaa-san. I'm just wrapping everything up with Nakamori tomorrow morning and then I'll be home. I promise."

A cautious smile lightened up her face as she reached for him to pull him into a tight embrace. "Thank you, Shinichi," she whispered.

ooOO-OOoo

Kaito stood in front of Aoko's house where Jii had let him off. The rain had sleeked his hair around his face and he was drenched to the bone. He just couldn't' bring his body to take the last few steps up to the shelter of the front door.

Aoko's father was still in the police department; for sure he would be home late today – again. Kaito's heart was heavy in his chest, knowing that it was his fault that Aoko had to spend so many nights alone while her father was out to chase after her best friend. What kind of 'best friend' was he when he was causing her so much sadness? The worst kind – that was what he was and he wanted to change that.

He was fully aware that tomorrow night could end up badly for him. He could be arrested – he could die. If either of this would happen, his secret would be out and he didn't want Aoko to learn about it that way.

He'd written a letter for her in which he explained everything – just in case he didn't make it back. About his father's death, why he'd started being Kid and about what would happen tomorrow. He would ask her not to read it before the heist had ended and he knew she would do so. She always did when he spoke to her in all earnest.

What he hadn't written, was how he felt about her. He didn't want to beg for her love or to put any pressure on her. If she decided that she could be his friend after she'd read everything, he would be happy – it was all he dared to ask for now.

Yes, she would know about Kaito being Kid tomorrow night, even if the heist was a success and he'd made his peace with that. It was time to come clean with her. Spending time with Kudo and listening to him when he was on the phone with Ran had shown him what could be if he just gave Aoko the chance to really see him. Without a smiling mask and without hiding behind childish pranks.

His fingers tightened around the envelope in his pocket, crinkling the paper as he gathered his courage. He pulled it out and smoothed out the creases carefully – shielding it from the rain so the water wouldn't smudge the ink.

Suddenly a sharp pain exploded on the back of his head.

The world turned upside down.

Wet pavement under his hands - scraping against his cheek.

Then just darkness.

The two men who pulled the unconscious boy into a waiting car didn't notice the small white envelope that had dropped out of his slack fingers.

Slowly the rising water tugged at it, played with it - washed it away.

* * *

**A/N: **Things are heating up. 'About damn time after six chapters!' – I can practically hear your shouting XD Yes – I took my sweet-time to develop everything up to this point, but be assured that now I'll pick up the pace.

We are moving into our new house right now, so the next chapter might take a bit longer. We still have to renovate a lot and I spend my evenings packing up everything. Well – just so you know.

Thank you all so much for your reviews! They really mean a lot to me!


	8. Truth

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Detective Conan or any of its characters and concepts! They all belong to Gosho Aoyama.

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**Chapter seven  
Truth  
**ooOO-OOoo

Impatiently Shinichi knocked on Kuroba's door and rang the bell for the fourth time. He was tapping his right foot anxiously by now as he pulled out his cell-phone. He typed on the surface harder than necessary and tried to force the line to connect with sheer willpower – what didn't work. After a few ringtones he was connected to the voicemail and Kuroba's cheery invitation to leave a message. He'd done that already – twice actually. The first time last night after the, uh, conversation with his parents. He hadn't been surprised when Kuroba hadn't picked up and had assumed that he was still speaking with Nakamori-san. Heart-to-heart talks took quite some time after all. So he'd just informed him that he would come by the next morning and that he would try to call again before he would be on his way to make sure Kuroba was at home.

But when he tried again in the morning, Kuroba still didn't pick up and Shinichi began to worry a bit. What if the talking with his childhood-friend had taken an ugly turn? Remembering the girl's temper and what Kuroba had told him about her and a mop, it was possible that she'd knocked him out or even worse – told her father about his secret.

And here he was now – hoping that the thief just was so deeply engrossed in his heist-preparations that he didn't hear his phone, knocking or the door bell, but somehow couldn't shake off the feeling that something else had happened.

_'__One more time the bell and the knocking and then I'll have to try something else.'_ Musingly he eyed the keyhole of the door, trying to estimate if he could pick the lock, when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, anticipating seeing Kuroba coming up to the house. Instead Nakamori Aoko walked up to him with a questioning and a bit wary expression.

"Can I help you? Are you looking for Kaito?" she asked him while her glance took in his appearance. He must have looked somewhat suspicious, standing at the door for straight ten minutes now. As a good friend, she now wanted to make sure he wasn't a burglar or creepy stalker.

"Yes, well I-" Shinichi started, but was interrupted by a gleeful squeal from the girl in front of him, who suddenly was hopping from one foot to another. "Oh! Now I recognize you. You've been at the police department when Kaito and I visited my dad. It's so good to see that Kaito makes some new friends. He always buries himself in all that magic-stuff; I've been worried he would end up as some bird-keeping weirdo. Did you two hit it off right away?"

Shinichi blinked at her chatty outburst and hurriedly sorted his thoughts. "I think you could say that. I was supposed to meet him today, but apparently his is not home. Do you know by any chance where I can find him?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen him for some days, so I have no idea where he took off to again."

_'__She hasn't seen him for some days? So he didn't go to her last night? Strange – I've been sure that he wanted to talk to her.'_

Tipping her head to the side a bit, Aoko put one finger to her cheek and looked up while obviously thinking hard. Her face suddenly brightened up. "Ha, maybe I know where we can find him or at least someone who might know." Without further ado she grabbed Shinichi's wrist and dragged him away from the house and down the street to the bus stop. "W-Wait Nakamori-san, where are we going?" he asked while he ran a few steps to catch up with her.

"To a billiard hall."

ooOO-OOoo

True enough they had entered a billiard hall a few moments ago and even this early there where many tables occupied by players. Most of them looked like they spent quite some time here, their moves well practiced and accurate. The soft clicking of the connecting cues and balls filled the air and a TV was mounted on the wall, showing some commercial but muted. Situated in a corner was a small bar and the barkeeper was busy polishing some glasses.

Shinichi followed Aoko to a back-room, where she knocked on the door.

"Coming," sounded a muffled voice and seconds later the door opened, revealing an elderly, bespectacled man. "Aoko-chan," Kounsuke Jii smiled widely. "It's been ages since you've last been here. You want to play with Kaito-kun again?" His question was accompanied with a glance to Shinichi who stood a step behind Aoko and his eyes widened barely noticeable as he realized that he was not Kaito like he had expected. "Oh, I'm sorry. I mistook you for someone else," he apologized with a quick bow. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kounsuke Jii, the owner of this humble establishment."

Shinichi bowed as well. "Nice to meet you too. My name is Kudo Shinichi." It was best when Nakamori-san didn't know that they'd met already. With earnest eyes he fixated Jii's gaze. "We are searching for a friend, Kuroba Kaito. We hoped that you might have an idea where to find him." He could see Jii's understanding of the underlying message. _'Kaito is gone and left no hint where to and why. He might be in trouble.'_

Jii rubbed his chin. "Kaito-kun, hm? I'm afraid I haven't seen him. He used to come here now and then, but not within the last two weeks." Shinichi decoded his answer easily. _'Kaito didn't tell me either. It's very unlike him to disappear that shortly before a heist.'_

Now Shinichi really was worried. If Kuroba wasn't home and hadn't been with Nakamori last night, then Jii had been the last one who'd seen him and that was almost fourteen hours ago. He needed to speak with Jii without Nakamori listening, because she obviously didn't know that Kuroba and Jii saw each other more often than just for some billiard. "Kounsuke-san, do you have a phone in your office? I'm afraid my mobile is low on battery and I need to make a call."

"Sure, follow me – I'll show you. Aoko-chan, I hope you don't mind waiting for a moment?"

Smiling, she shook her head. "I'm fine. I'll go and get something to drink from the bar."

"Alright, tell Sakagawa-san that it is on me," Jii said and made a sign to his barkeeper who nodded back. Nakamori thanked him and made her way through the tables. Jii gestured at Shinichi and they entered the office, closing the door behind them.

Shinichi got straight to the point. "Did you bring Kuroba to Nakamori-san last night?"

Jii nodded slowly. "Yes, he wanted to come clean with her in case something happened to him, though I brought him home, because he wanted to get something first." His shoulders sank, weighted down from worry. "He didn't get there, right?"

Shinichi's grave gaze was answer enough. "Is there anywhere else where he could be? Any hideout or maybe he went to the heist-site for a last check-up?"

"No, Bocchama would have told me if he'd wanted to go there. My last information was that he wanted to put some final touches on his equipment today and meet up with you later," he said, unconsciously changing back to the polite addressing.

That was bad. Where could the thief be? Maybe he should go back to Kuroba's house to make sure none of his gadgets went off and accidently had hurt him – though that was quite unlikely. But what if-

His thoughts where cut off by the noise of shattering glass and the scream of a female voice. Both bolted to the door and Shinichi ripped it open to see Nakamori-san staring at the TV with wide eyes, trembling. A broken glass lay at her feet, the juice slowly soaking her shoes, but she paid it no mind. He followed her gaze and froze. A grainy video footage showed a young man - bound, gagged and unconscious on the floor. A trickle of blood had run down from his temple and dried on his face. Despite the bad quality it was easy enough to make out Kuroba's features. Shaking off the stupor he sped forward. "Turn up the volume!"

The barkeeper struggled to get a firm hold on the remote before he found the right button.

"… received this video material from an anonymous sender along with a demand to Kaitou Kid. It says that he has to deliver tonight's heist target to them or the boy will die. The exact details he will receive at the heist. If the police try to interfere in any way, they will have to take responsibility for the death of an innocent civilian."

Aoko gasped in horror and clapped one hand over her mouth. "Kaito," she whispered and the first tears made their way down her cheeks.

The excited newscaster went on. "So far the video seems to be unfeigned. Our experts are currently working on it and we will inform you as soon as we know something new. Now to our Kid-expert. Matsuoka-san – do you think Kid will follow the instructions?..."

Shinichi tuned Matsuoka's voice out – it wasn't important what he thought. Kid couldn't show up to give them the jewel, because he was the one they held hostage. For sure this was Snake's work. But why did he decide to take such drastic means? Why suddenly acting so openly after they always made sure the police didn't notice them?

A sobbed "Tou-san," made him turn his attention to the girl next to him. Well, shit – what was he supposed to do with Nakamori-keibu?

Nakamori-san listened to her father's loud voice and nodded between strangled hiccups. "Yes, I'll wait. We are at Kounsuke's billiard hall." Two more hiccups. "Kudo-san is with me. – Ok, I'll tell him." With shaking fingers she turned off her phone and looked at Shinichi. "My dad's coming to pick me up. He tells you to wait here for him and try to get a hold on that damned thief." She was clearly confused while she snuffled, "You know how to contact Kaitou Kid?"

Shinichi squirmed under the attention of all people in the now quiet room. "Uh, well – I-" He didn't get to finish his sentence, as he suddenly found himself with an armful of sobbing girl. "Please – you have to tell him to help Kaito! He _has_ to help! 'No one gets hurt', right?"

Very unsure how to handle the situation, he was grateful that Jii took Nakamori by the arm and pulled her into a soothing embrace. "Everything will be alright. You know Kaito-kun – he is strong and full of ideas. He will come back for sure."

For a moment Shinichi had the feeling as if he was looking at something from the past he hadn't seen himself. Somehow he was sure that Ran had been comforted in the same way when she'd learned about his own kidnapping. Seeing the crying girl, his stomach turned into a cold pit when he thought about Ran, suffering like that because of him.

He shook his head to get rid of this terrible feeling. Ran was alright and probably kicking someone's ass right now. He had to concentrate.

They kidnapped Kuroba to use him as leverage, so they actually didn't know or even suspect that he was Kid. So far so good, but why where they forcing things now and not on any other previous heist? Had the heist-note been that convincing that they truly expected to get Pandora tonight? For sure they were not willing to take any risk losing the gem to Kid. They had to be aware that no matter what they demanded, the police would be after them as soon as Kuroba's safety was confirmed. They wouldn't be able to work hidden any longer. So maybe it didn't matter? Well, if they really believed in the legend, immortality would weight up many disadvantages – maybe even being caught. Still he had the feeling that their move was somewhat desperate. As if-

"Kounsuke-san, can I have a word with you?" he murmured in Jii's ear. Jii gently sat Nakamori down on a chair and told her he would be right back. Retreating to a far corner of the room he and Shinichi talked with lowered voices. "Kuroba never told me the full legend of Pandora, though I looked some of it up on my own. I remember something about a time limit."

"That's right. Every ten thousand years, the Volley comet comes close to the earth. That is the moment to hold Pandora up against the full moon and drink its tears to gain immortality."

"Do you know when exactly this will happen?"

"Bocchama never believed in this myth, so we didn't give it that much thought," Jii explained. "To him it was only important to stop them and reveal what really happened to Toichi-sama."

Shinichi had guessed that much. What a pity that he hadn't thought about it sooner. "What if the comet passes the earth very soon? To be more precise – tonight? And what if Snake and his men know that?"

Jii inhaled sharply. "They would take high risks to reach their goal in time. And they wouldn't mind to-" his voice broke off in a rasp.

"No, they wouldn't mind sacrificing a random boy for it," Shinichi grimly ended his sentence. "We made our plans without thinking about how far our opponent was willing to go and now-" He wearily drew a hand down his face. "Now we are in deep shit."

They heard a commotion outside the hall. "Seems like Nakamori-keibu is here," Shinichi stated the obvious. He caught Jii's sad gaze. "You know we can't keep it from him any longer, right? He has to know why Kid won't come to Kuroba's rescue."

Jii looked at him unsure. "I've pulled off some heists before Bocchama took up the cape, maybe-"

Shinichi waved him off. "No offense Jii-san, but that was two years ago and even back then my dad noticed some significant differences about Kid's style. Also-" He glanced at Jii's hands. "I think I've seen some trembling in your fingers that has nothing to do with fear. Are you sure you would be up to a heist including dodging bullets with Kuroba's life at stake?"

Jii visibly deflated. He raised his right hand to his face and watched the fine tremors running through the muscles. He sighed. "You're right. Age is catching up on me as hard as it is to admit that. But - maybe you could do it."

Shinichi stared at him and blinked – then he waved his hands in defense. "No way – I'm sorry, but I don't think that I'm already fit enough for such a task. Not to mention all the tricks and gadgets Kuroba only showed briefly to me ." Kuroba had in fact shown him some of his toys, but Shinichi had had problems distinguishing the similar-looking capsules and almost knocked himself out as he mistook a capsule with sleeping-gas for a light-grenade.

"I see – looks like one of us is too old and the other one not back to full health. So we are really left with no choice. We need help from the police." With this statement, Jii really seemed a lot older than a moment before. He had kept Kid's secret for two generations. To see how his young master was about to go down had to be hard on him.

Shinichi tried to give him some encouragement. "Maybe we can keep it between Nakamori-keibu and us. I know it will be bad enough if he of all people knows, but we have to concentrate on damage control and I think Kuroba's life is most important right now."

For a few moments Jii just stood there while he silently said goodbye to the mystery of Kaitou Kid. He knew Kaito would never fly through the skies at night like before. Tonight would be the end of the magician under the moonlight – one way or another.

He collected himself and straightened his spine. "Alright, let's get Bocchama back. Kaitou Kid's story will not end with the death of his number one fan." _'I promise you Toichi-sama – we won't let your son die.'_

ooOO-OOoo

Nakamori was torn between fuming, because this god-damned thief was putting someone at risk (even if it wasn't really his fault) and being worried out of his mind for that certain someone. Why the hell had it to be Kaito-kun? Not that he would wish something that bad to anyone else, but seeing how devastated Aoko was and his own attachment to the boy didn't make things easier.

A bit clumsy, he patted Aoko's back. She was still crying and he always felt helpless in those moments. His wife had been much better at this. His eyes searched the room. Where the hell was that Kudo-kid? He had told him to wait here and not to run off.

Just as he inwardly rambled on about disobedient kids these days, he saw Kudo crossing the room, followed by Kounsuke Jii. Nakamori knew Kounsuke as Toichi's assistant, but he hadn't had much contact with him these days. He lacked the time for billiard – and the patience. He turned back to his daughter. "Aoko, I have to talk to Kudo-san. Are you alright being alone for a moment?" She nodded and wiped off her tears. With a brave but weak smile she looked up at him. "It's ok, Tou-san. Just - get Kaito back, ok?"

Nakamori's heart was about to break at that sight. "I will my dear – I promise." And he meant every word. He would be damned if he would allow that his daughter would shed any more tears because of this boy. He got up and went over to Jii and Shinichi, who were waiting a bit at a distance from the other people.

"Got a hold on that thief already?" he snarled at Shinichi.

"Am afraid that is not possible at the moment," came the reluctant answer.

Nakamori eyed him up. The boy seemed to feel uncomfortable under Nakamori's gaze and if he didn't know better he would say Kounsuke as well. "What is going on here?"

Shinichi heaved a sigh. "It would be better if you could come into the office with us. This is kind of – delicate."

Nakamori felt his left eye twitching. He didn't have time for skirting around topics. He wanted straight answers and fast. Grudgingly he followed them. He just hoped they would make short work of it.

Shinichi waited until Nakamori had entered the room and then closed the door. "Keibu – before I can tell you anything I have to ask you to keep your voice down, no matter what you will learn next. I know your patience is already running low, but I assure you – this is important."

Nakamori grind his teeth. To have the nerve. But ok – he would give the youth five minutes. He gave him a harsh wave to continue – about his temper he would see what he could do. No promises.

"Well, as I told you before, it's not possible to contact Kid at the moment," Shinichi started.

Nakamori huffed. "And why, pray tell?" Blasted thief – what a timing to drop off the map.

After a short glance at Jii, Shinichi went on. He decided to make it quick. They hadn't the time to play 'guess what'. "He is being held captive by his enemies and depends on our help."

"He has been kidnapped as well?" Nakamori gaped. "Then why the fuck do they ask for his surrender? They have to know that he can't come. Why do they have to threaten Kaito-kun-"

"Oh jeez – do I really have to spell it out for you?" Shinichi couldn't believe how dumb the man could be. Was it really that difficult to connect the dots? "Koruba Kaito is Kaitou Kid, but his captor doesn't know that, so we have a little problem right now."

Nakamori fell silent. What had Kudo said? Kuroba Kaito should be Kaitou Kid? Impossible. A nervous laugh escaped him. "You're kidding, right? Kaito-kun can't be Kid. He is way too young and on top of that I witnessed myself how he attended a heist and Kid showed up anyway. So stop telling nonsense and get your ass in gear. We have to find a way to help Kaito-kun."

Shinichi rubbed his temples. He had expected something along these lines, but it still was bothersome. "Nakamori-keibu, please believe me – it's the truth. You are right; we don't have time to waste, so here are the facts in short. Kuroba Toichi had been the first Kid. He made some trigger-happy enemies who discovered his true identity and they killed him, setting it up as an accident. His son found out a few years ago and took on the role of the phantom thief. Somehow he tricked you with some feigned alibies, but let me assure you – he has been the one I've worked with over the last weeks and he is the one who got kidnapped last night." He saw the denial in Nakamori's eyes slowly changing to uncertainty. _'Good – he finally gets it. Just a little further.'_ "Obviously our opponent bought his alibies as well and now thinks that he has the perfect bait for Kid. So let me recap for you: Kuroba Kaito is Kaitou Kid, so Kid won't come to pull off the heist tonight and he can't come to rescue Kuroba, because he himself _is _the thief for crying out loud."

That was the moment Nakamori's jaw dropped to the floor.

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**A/N: **And here we go - the shit finally hit the fan. What will Nakamori-keibu do? Find out in the next chapter :)


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